Decepticons Have More Fun COMPLETED!
by metallicgirl42
Summary: This romantic comedy of sorts takes place in the Decepticons' secret hideout in TFA. It focuses on Starscream, who feels something is missing in his life until Megatron finds Spaceflower, a beautiful young femme with a special power. This is their story.
1. Introduction

"For the millionth time, Lugnut, I am _not _going to come see your Megatron shrine!" Starscream shouted, swatting Lugnut's servo away. "In fact, I should probably tell him what _really _happened to his twin sword set the other solar cycle. You know, he asked me if I knew what happened to it and I said I didn't, but I should have told him the truth."

"No, don't tell!" Lugnut pleaded. "He'll disown me for sure!"

_Disown _him? Oh, for Spark's sake! Starscream walked to the door of his room. "No way. In fact, I'm going to go and talk to him right now…and I'll tell him about all his other stuff you stole too."

Starscream was just messing with Lugnut, as usual, but Lugnut never really caught onto this, which was part of why it was so funny.

"I'm going to the door," Starscream teased, opening the door. "I'm going to Megatron…"

Starscream felt one of Lugnut's gigantic servos grab his wingflap, one of the most sensitive parts of his body. He threw him back, howling with pain, and was going to give up the bit, until his comm. link buzzed. It was Megatron himself.

"Don't tell!" Lugnut said again.

"Shut it down," Starscream ordered, then turned to Megatron. "What do you want?"

"We have a new recruit," Megatron replied. "Have everyone report to me."

"Yes, yes!" Lugnut cried. "I will not fail you, Master!"

"He was talking to me, not you, you idiot!" Starscream yelled, rubbing his wingflap. "You know you dented it? Again?"

"That's what you get," Lugnut insisted. "Come on, we must not fail Megatron!"

The two of them rounded up Blitzwing and Blackarachnia, who both seemed less than enthusiastic too. Starscream wondered to himself if this "new recruit" would be as "promising" as all the others. As Megatron's second, he had seen most of his top lieutenants when they first joined the cause. There was Blackarachnia, who had joined when the Autobots "betrayed" her (or so she said); Lugnut (a huge mistake on Megatron's part); and Blitzwing had enlisted around the same time as Starscream had, and he was just kind of unpredictable.

Starscream stood next to Megatron, feeling bored. Blackarachnia and Blitzwing stood nearby. Lugnut pushed Starscream out of the way so _he _could stand next to his beloved leader instead—not that Starscream minded. Instead he went to stand next to the other two. Starscream knew Lugnut wanted to be second-in-command just as much as he wanted to be the leader himself.

"So who is he?" Blackarachnia finally asked, looking impatient. "What's his name?"

"Her _name_," Megatron replied apathetically, "is Spaceflower."

"Spaceflower?" Blackarachnia repeated, unimpressed. "What kind of idiotic name is that? Whoever named her must have been two circuits short of a—"

She didn't get to finish the sentence. The door to the Decepticon secret base opened, and Spaceflower walked in. She had a black-and-dark pink color scheme; her body was mostly dark pink, with the exception of her black chestplate and pelvis. The bottoms of her legs were made to look like high-heeled boots, while the upper part was dark pink. She had dark pink wingflaps with a black stripe on each one, and of course the purple Decepticon insignia too. She was smiling as she strode confidently into the base, optics face forward.

"Hey!" Starscream suddenly felt Random (Blitzwing's "crazy" face) elbow him in the side. "Keep your optics off the recruits!"

"I am not staring at her!" Starscream hissed back. "In fact, she's totally ugly."

But that statement was the opposite of what he really felt. He couldn't _stop _staring at Spaceflower. The confident way she walked, that tantalizing smile on her lips, her overall…_beauty_…he wanted to rush up and kiss her right there. But he knew not to, because maybe then _he_ would be the one to be "disowned".

"All right, show me what you've got," Megatron commanded. Spaceflower nodded and both her servos turned into guns. She turned upwards and shot the ceiling with perfect aim.

"Is it ok?" Spaceflower asked. It was the first time anyone had ever heard her speak, and she had a voice like the notes to a lullaby.

"Fine," Megatron told her. "Anything else?"

"Pick someone."

Starscream opened his optics, only realizing he had closed them until now. Her silky voice was caressing his audio receptors, making him a little weak in the knees.

Megatron pointed to Starscream. "Get up here!"

Feeling apprehensive, lucky and excited all at the same time, Starscream walked over to where Spaceflower was still standing.

"What are you waiting for, mister?" she asked. "Try and hit me."

"I…I can't do that," he told her.

"Well, since you insist," Megatron said, seeing through Starscream, as usual. "We can always pick someone else."

"Wait!" Starscream yelled. Then everyone stared at him, but even though he didn't want to, he threw a fist right at Spaceflower's face. Next thing he knew he was kicked right in the chestplate and flipped right onto the ground. He groaned and lifted his head up. So she had fighting powers, too. That was pretty…

"Impressive," Megatron told her, still expressionless, probably because he knew he could do the same thing to Starscream and damage him much more. "That's all?"

"No," she said sweetly. "Try and hit me again, mister. I promise I won't hit you back this time. _Promise_."

Starscream got up, rubbing his wings, especially the one that had already been dented by Lugnut earlier that solar cycle. He wanted even less to hit her now, but just as he was about to try and hit her, she said smoothly, "You aren't really going to hit me, are you?"

Confused, he put his fist down. "I thought that was…what you wanted…"

"Oh, yes, I do," she whispered. He was feeling weak in the knees again. She walked up to him and put one delicate servo on his damaged wing, which he found felt incredibly good—then, to his surprise, Spaceflower started vocalizing a cappella, in a beautiful soprano. Starscream felt his eyes closing again, and he smiled.

Next thing he knew he was lying on his bed, Blitzwing standing above him, Lugnut too. They were both laughing about something.

"What…guys, what _happened_?" he mumbled, trying and failing to sit up.

"Spaceflower made you faint," Blitzwing explained, with his "Icy" face. "That is her special power. Her voice is so beautiful, it will control you."

"Great," Starscream said. "Now, every time she talks, I'll pass out. Another weirdo to add to Megatron's perfect army."

"No," Icy protested. "It is only when she sings. If Spaceflower is simply talking it does not matter. Also, only the person she is singing to, her enemy, will faint. She uses it as her main weapon."

"But then why was I—"

"You crumpled like she had shot you!" Hothead shouted, pointing at Starscream. "If she wanted to she could have killed you! You are weak!"

Lugnut pointed. "I wanted Megatron to pick _me_ as the example! I knew I would not fail him the way you did."

"I did not _fail _him!" Starscream yelled. "I was _supposed_ to faint, you idiot! It was to demonstrate her best weapon…anyway…what happened after that?"

"She was let in," Lugnut explained simply. "And our Master made me and Blitzwing take you to your room."

"But…" Starscream was still confused. "Spaceflower was using her voice weapon on me earlier too, I know. When she was only talking, not singing. I felt like I was in stasis lock or something."

"I _knew _it!" Random screeched with laughter. "He is in love!"

"I am _not _in love!" Starscream yelled. "She kicked me onto the floor then sang me until I fainted and she's the ugliest femme I've ever met! Why would I love her?"

"We can see through your lies!" Lugnut punched Starscream in the chest, knocking him back onto the bed.

"_Stop _it!" Starscream wanted to shoot Lugnut with his null-rays. "How many times this solar cycle am I going to get attacked?"

"You have already been attacked, with the worst weapon of them all," Blitzwing replied, his Icy face back again.

"What's that?"

Blitzwing turned to leave, motioning for Lugnut to follow him. He turned back and smiled slightly as he shut the door.

"It's love."


	2. Idea

_Approximately one Earth week later_…

Starscream had been trying (unsuccessfully) for one week to get Spaceflower to notice him, but she never did. His room was next to Lugnut's, so he had to listen every night to Lugnut working on his Megatron shrine or practicing his "speech" for when he _finally _got appointed second-in-command or who knows what else…

He could tell Blackarachnia didn't like Spaceflower, and he knew Spaceflower was just friends with Lugnut, but he thought either he was being very paranoid, or there was something going on between her and Blitzwing. Blitzwing guessed (correctly) that Starscream was in love with Spaceflower, and Starscream wondered if he would deliberately start a relationship with her. He wouldn't do that, would he? But then again…

Night after night he would lie awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore Lugnut's "Megatron, my glorious leader, I love you so much!" and wondering if he would ever be able to get Spaceflower to love him, or at least remember that he existed. She hadn't talked to him at all since that day when she had flipped him and sang him to sleep. Maybe she'd forgotten about him entirely.

Of course, he hadn't talked to her, either, but this was only because he didn't have anything to say. As everyone knew, he usually had plenty to say, but not to Spaceflower. Maybe he _should _try talking to her. What was the worst that could happen, anyway?

So that morning, Starscream grabbed himself some energon, and was casually sipping it in the main room when he heard Spaceflower coming around the corner. Except she was with Blitzwing, as usual.

"So you're really going to give me those dancing lessons?" she asked, giggling. Her laugh was as beautiful as her voice.

"Yes!" Random said, breaking into a little dance right there, to Starscream's disgust. "You can be light on your servos, like me!"

"And we can perform in that musical," Spaceflower added. What _musical_? They were planning on being in a musical together? Why hadn't he been told about this? And besides, Decepticons didn't stage musicals!

Spaceflower and Blitzwing were just walking past, and it was like they didn't even notice Starscream. Last time he checked, turning invisible wasn't one of his powers.

He drank some more of his energon, feeling bitter. Spaceflower and her stupid boyfriend were going to work on their stupid musical as soon as they left the room, and then probably make out right on the set. It was probably a musical about their love. As if Blitzwing wasn't annoying enough!

Finally, they left the room, leaving Starscream alone and in an incredibly surly mood. Lugnut came to sit next to him, carrying an empty oil container. Starscream didn't say anything, didn't even look up.

"I took Megatron's old oil container," Lugnut said. "Don't tell him, okay?"

"Don't tell _me_ what to do, you malfunction!" Starscream yelled, grabbing the oil container and shooting it into pieces with his null-rays.

"You're going to pay for that!" Lugnut hollered. "That was Megatron's!"

"Don't you know he thinks you're annoying?" Starscream asked angrily. "He regrets even recruiting you!"

Lugnut looked panicked. "Is that true?"

"Yes!" Starscream picked up his energon and sipped it dramatically.

Lugnut picked up the shattered pieces of the oil container. "Have I not served him well enough? What did I do wrong?"

"Now _you _know what it's like to have _your _spark ripped out and torn into tiny little pieces!" Starscream shouted. "Not fun, is it?"

He slammed the energon down on the table and stormed out. He wasn't even looking where he was going and consequently, to his surprise, he smacked right into Spaceflower, who was now alone.

"Um, sorry," he said, still not meeting her optics. He knew his faceplates were turning bright red.

"It's okay," she told him. He heard the smile in her lovely voice. He finally looked up and saw she looked a little confused, like she was trying to figure out a difficult puzzle. _Probably the puzzle of remembering where she_'_s seen me before_, he thought to himself sullenly.

"Wait a minute, I know you!" Spaceflower smiled. "Aren't you the one who helped me demonstrate my weapons to Megatron? And you fell asleep at my singing?"

"That's me," Starscream grumbled.

"I never got your name," Spaceflower said. "What is it?"

"My name is Starscream," he said. She didn't say anything after that, and he wanted to fill the silence more than anything else. So he asked, "Are you and Blitzwing really going to do a musical?"

"We might." Spaceflower laughed. "Your friend's a great singer."

"My friend?"

"Blitzwing," she said.

Blitzwing? A great singer? As good as Spaceflower? _Oh_, _how he mocks me_! Starscream decided that from now on, he was definitely NOT friends with Blitzwing.

"Anyway," Spaceflower continued, "I'd love to do a musical for real. You can be in it, if you want. Do you like singing?"

She was staring at him, that smile on her lips again, so he blurted out, "Are you kidding? I love singing! I was even in a musical at school, when I was younger."

Starscream had a tendency to lie, but this particular statement was actually sort of true. Starscream _hated _singing—he hated even the thought of it—but he had been forced to be in a musical, back when he was in Autobot School. That was one of the worst memories of his life cycle, and he had been unsuccessfully trying to remove it from his memory core ever since.

The teacher had forced _everyone _to be in the musical, and no matter how bad you were, you had to sing. Starscream couldn't hit _any _of the notes, which meant the other sparklings teased him even more than they already did, if that was even possible. To make things worse, he had a lisp back then, too, so he couldn't even pronounce the words right. He recalled how others had called him "Shtarshcream", and never invited him to their parties or wanted to be around him at all. Basically, Starscream had hated every moment of Autobot School.

He must have been scowling, because Spaceflower asked, "Are you all right?"

"Oh, yeah, I am," he assured her. "It's okay."

"So you were in a musical?" Spaceflower looked genuinely interested now. "That's great! I was in musicals too. I don't mean to brag, but I got the lead role, and even a standing ovation."

"I'm not surprised," Starscream told her, smiling. "But…didn't they all fall asleep?"

"No." She shook her head. "It's only a certain set of notes and pitch and all that, a certain song I sing. I can sing without making people faint, so it becomes my talent and weapon."

Oh. Why hadn't he noticed that? Of course all her singing wouldn't make everyone fall asleep.

"Well, anyway, if you love singing, I would love it if you could be in our musical!" Spaceflower gushed. "Could you sing now? With me?"

Oh slag.

"You see, I would, but I can't, because, um…my vocal processors are harmed," Starscream told her hastily. "I mean, I can talk fine, but I can't really sing right now, and besides, you know, I'm pretty, um, rusty, so, um…"

"Don't worry!" Spaceflower patted him on the shoulder and laughed again. "I understand. You can sing for me and Blitzy once you feel better."

_Blitzy_? Starscream thought. _Please_, _don_'_t tell me she ACTUALLY called him that_!

"Want to come plan, though?" Spaceflower asked. "I'm sure Blitzy wouldn't mind doing a musical with us. He said he would give me dance lessons, isn't that funny? He's good at dancing too!"

"Hilarious," Starscream muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"I said, I can go with you," Starscream told her. "That musical sounds so fun."

"Great!" Spaceflower cried happily, and she grabbed Starscream's servo and pulled him all the way to Blitzwing's room. After she finally let go, it felt like it was on fire.

"Spaceflower, Starscream," Blitzwing's Icy face said. "What brings you here?"

He was laying down on the bed, just relaxing, presumably. Spaceflower sat down on the bed, but Starscream turned on the rocket thrusters on his feet and hovered near the doorway, arms crossed.

"We wanted to know if you would help us create a musical," Spaceflower explained. "With all the Decepticons! Because you're so good at singing and dancing, you know? Starscream says he is too."

Blitzwing gave Starscream a funny look and Starscream made a cutting motion across his throat.

"I guess I could help you," Blitzwing said, his face switching to Random. "But only if you give me the lead role!"

"No problem!" Spaceflower giggled. "After all, you would do fantastic!"

"I thought _you _wanted to be the lead role," Starscream suddenly said, pointing at Spaceflower.

"I like being in musicals," she explained. "But that doesn't mean I don't like letting others share the spotlight too." She turned to Blitzwing again. "Why don't we just sing some duets, then? I bet I can sing better than you can!"

Blitzwing's face switched again, this time to Hothead, and he shouted, "Nobody can beat me, not even you, Spaceflower!"

Spaceflower smiled sweetly. "We'll see, won't we? This is going to be so amazing! Now we just need to get everyone else to join. You'll be in our musical, too, won't you, Starscream?"

He nodded, still hovering by the doorway.

Spaceflower smiled. "I knew you would! And you can sing too!"

Starscream winced, the vision of himself trying and failing to sing in an old school musical infiltrating his CPU again. How did he get roped into these things? A _musical_? It was like the worst memory of his life cycle being relived all over again—only this time in front of the one femme he wanted to be romantically involved with.

_Approximately two Earth weeks later_…

The musical was going quite well now—Blitzwing and Spaceflower were both wonderful in their singing and dancing, and Starscream was learning dancing, still avoiding singing on the pretense that his vocal processor was still damaged.

One of their main problems was getting the other Decepticons to join in. _Everyone _was supposed to be participating in this musical, but Blackarachnia, when asked by Spaceflower, had given a flat-out "no". They knew they wouldn't have a problem casting Lugnut if Megatron agreed, but Megatron, when asked by Starscream, had simply given a look that implied, "are you insane?"

Another problem was the plot. They weren't having much trouble with the music part, due to Blitzwing and Spaceflower's talent, but they couldn't decide what the musical should be about. Finally, Starscream, after many hours of thought, came up with an idea.

"Why don't we make it about the Decepticon cause?" he suggested, tentatively. "And that will probably make Megatron want to join, since you know how he loves to talk about Decepticon oppression and all that. And then Lugnut will need to join. And I don't know how we can cast Blackarachnia, but at least this plot might take care of some of our problems."

"Good idea," Spaceflower told him. "In fact, maybe we should have him write it."

"Yes," Starscream agreed. "I'll ask again."

Starscream didn't really want to bother Megatron again, but he figured this would score him major points with Spaceflower, especially once she found out that he couldn't sing, which she undoubtedly would. He dismissed this thought from his processor and approached Megatron, who was sitting in his chair.

"What is it now, Starscream?"

"Well…Blitzwing, Spaceflower and I wanted to ask again about the musical," Starscream replied, nervously. "And I know you thought it was a really stupid idea, but…we thought maybe if we let you write it, you might reconsider. After all, haven't you always wanted to speak about how we Decepticons are so oppressed?"

"That is true," Megatron said pensively.

"Then why not sing about it?" Starscream asked hopefully. "_Can_ you sing?"

"Of course I can sing," Megatron told him impatiently. "All right, I'll do it. I'll write your musical for you. Have you got the songs written?"

Starscream nodded. "Yes, we have…and I can tell, Spaceflower loves it here! She thinks you're a great Decepticon leader!"

"However," Megatron replied darkly, "she does not love you, and she does not think you will be a good Decepticon leader."

Starscream was momentarily speechless. How had Megatron figured out his two current life goals, and how did he know how Spaceflower felt? Was he some kind of processor reader?

Starscream tried to regain composure quickly, and told him, "Well, either way, you can write the script to our musical, if you want, and I'll give you the songs we wrote and choreographed, so it'll be easier."

"Fine," Megatron said. "That will be all, Starscream."

Starscream bowed and left, and then ran all the way to Blitzwing's room, where he knew Spaceflower would undoubtedly be.

"Great news, guys," he told them. "Megatron agreed to be in the musical, and to write the script. So now Lugnut will join too."

"I think we need to give up on Blackarachnia, though," Spaceflower told him. "I had Blitzy ask her again this time, and she screamed, no! Maybe we should just let her be the audience."

"Whatever." Starscream shrugged. "I don't know how good of a singer she is anyway. Maybe she would just stifle our talent. Especially yours."

"You mean mine?" Spaceflower smiled.

"Of course," Starscream replied, spark starting to pound, faster than usual. "You're a big part of what made this musical happen."

"Thanks." Spaceflower walked up to Starscream and stroked one of his wings. Her fingers were slightly claw-like, like his, and the sharpness, mixed with the gentle way she touched him, felt incredible. Maybe soon she could make him faint _without _her singing, he thought. Only after she had walked away did he wonder why Blitzwing hadn't tried to stop her. Wasn't he supposed to be her boyfriend?

Or…was he really appealing enough that even though she was in a relationship with someone else, she was still in love with him? What if she loved him _so _much that she broke up with Blitzwing for him? That wouldn't make "Blitzy" happy, of course, but wouldn't he want Spaceflower to be happy? Maybe she wouldn't care that he couldn't sing. Maybe she would love him for some of his other assets, and Megatron would be wrong. He _wasn_'_t _right all the time, after all. They would fall in love…

"HEY!" Starscream felt Blitzwing kick him in the leg. "Turn on your audio receptors!"

"Huh? What?" Starscream asked, snapping quickly out of his fantasy.

"I'm going to go and get Lugnut, and see if he wants to be in the musical, now that Megatron is in it," Spaceflower repeated, still smiling. And before either of them could say anything, she was gone.

As soon as she had left, Blitzwing's face had switched to "Hothead", and he had grabbed Starscream by the arm. "Stop this foolishness right now!"

"What are you talking about?" Starscream asked, as innocently as he could.

"You cannot sing, I know it! And you cannot dance! You could _never _perform in a musical! You would ruin the whole show!" Hothead yelled, gripping Starscream's arm even tighter. His face switched again, this time to Icy, and he added, "I know you are only doing this musical because you are in love with Spaceflower, but if you humiliate yourself onstage, she will not love you any more than she does now."

"Oh, like you care!" Starscream scoffed. "Don't you just want more stage time with your girlfriend, Spaceflower?"

Blitzwing's face switched again, to Random, and he started dancing, again. "Actually, as long as I've got rhythm, and I've got music, what more could I want?"

"You walking malfunction!" Starscream yelled. "You didn't even—"

There was a light knock on the door, and Spaceflower entered yet again, Lugnut following closely. "I've got Lugnut, you guys. He says he'll perform in the musical, as long as he can do a number or two with Megatron."

"I guess we could write some for them," Starscream replied sullenly. "I've never heard either of them sing before, though. And I'm not really looking forward to it."

"Don't be that way," Spaceflower insisted, grinning. "I'm sure they'll be fine. Next up, after everything's written, it'll be time for rehearsal."


	3. Rehearsal

The first rehearsal. Starscream was to report to Blitzwing's room in only one mega-cycle, and already he felt very uncomfortable, like he had consumed a little too much energon. All the songs were written, as was the script, and now they just needed to practice until they got it right.

Even rehearsal struck fear in Starscream's spark. He would need to practice dancing, lines (which he would have to memorize, too), and singing. His vocal processor couldn't be damaged forever. Since he had a part in writing the music, he had fixed it so that he only had a small singing part, but he had to sing _somewhere_. And he knew it would end up completely horrible.

What would Spaceflower think if her musical was ruined? Starscream knew that would destroy _any _chances of him ever being able to be her boyfriend, especially because he knew Blitzwing would probably perform almost as well as she did.

One mega-cycle later, feeling like he was going to blow a gasket, Starscream arrived in Blitzwing's room, where Megatron, Lugnut, Blitzwing and Spaceflower were all waiting. Everyone was holding a copy of the script. Spaceflower excitedly ran over to Starscream and gave him one, too.

Starscream smiled weakly and looked at the cover of their musical (which was now entitled _The Decepticon Cause_). He looked around. Blitzwing was practicing his dancing. Megatron was turning through the pages of the script, with Lugnut interestedly reading over his shoulder, even though he had his own copy. After she had led Starscream to the bed next to Megatron and Lugnut, Spaceflower stood in front of everyone.

"Now, we've decided that we'll try and memorize our lines, the talking part I mean, first, and then we can start working on the songs," Spaceflower told everyone. "We thought it would just make everything so much easier."

"All right," Megatron said, standing up. "My line is the first line." He looked through the script and started to speak loudly and clearly.

"For many stellar cycles now, the Decepticons have been oppressed by the Autobots, forced to live in remote sectors by the Autobot scum!" He continued his speech with great enthusiasm, until finally it was finished and it was Spaceflower and Starscream's first scene. Starscream was pretending to be an "oppressive" Autobot, while Spaceflower was the Decepticon.

"I am just a regular, happy Decepticon, minding my own business," Spaceflower declared, wandering about the room.

"_Aha_!" Starscream yelled, jumping onstage and grabbing Spaceflower's arm. "It's off to the stockade with you, Decepticon scum!"

"But I didn't do anything!" Spaceflower protested.

"Too bad!" Starscream pulled Spaceflower offstage, to the "stockade", then Spaceflower looked at her script. "Okay, Starscream, you have a short song here…let's go to the next scene…Lugnut? Megatron? This is your scene."

Lugnut jumped up enthusiastically, and Megatron reluctantly followed.

"Another Decepticon, sent to the stockade!" Lugnut cried, looking down at his script. "Oh great and glorious Leader, what can we do?"

"As long as I am still online, we will not allow any more Decepticons to be sent to the stockade!" Megatron declared. "We must go rescue everyone who is locked up."

"How?"

"With my fusion cannon," Megatron replied. "Not my swords, since I still don't know what happened to them…but at least I have my cannon, so I can blast them out!"

"Victory will be ours!" Lugnut hollered, waving his servos back and forth.

"Cut!" Spaceflower said. "You guys have a song here, so let's switch to the stockade scene."

Blitzwing joined Spaceflower on the "stage". Spaceflower pretended to be behind the bars of the stockade, glancing down at her foot. (During the actual musical, she was going to have a metal ball and chain attached, but she didn't need it for rehearsal.)

"I am but a humble, innocent Decepticon," she announced, sounding convincingly miserable. "Yet I am locked in the stockade. Why did the Autobots lock me up?"

"They are oppressive, my dear," Blitzwing's "Icy" face replied as he walked over to her. "They did not even give us a chance!"

"It's terrible!" Spaceflower cried, then burst into fake tears.

"Don't worry! We will get out somehow!" Blitzwing cried, taking her servos in his. "I would never let anything happen to you, fellow Decepticon!"

"Why?"

"Because we Decepticons are good, no matter what those filthy Autobots think!" Blitzwing cried, this time with his Hothead face on. "Nothing will ever separate us!"

"You think so?" Spaceflower asked, sniffling.

"I _know _so," Blitzwing replied. "This will not last forever, my dear! Megatron _will_ rule Cybertron!"

Spaceflower smiled, then glanced down at her script again. "That's where our first song starts, Blitzwing…then there's the scene where Megatron and Lugnut blast us out of the stockade…then the Cybertronian war scene. Let's try that."

Lugnut ran onto the stage, and everyone else followed him, because they all were in that scene. Megatron, Blitzwing and Spaceflower were chosen to be the Decepticons, while Starscream and Lugnut were the Autobots. (Lugnut didn't want to be an Autobot at first, but Megatron had forced him to do it.)

"DIE, Decepticons!" Starscream hollered, standing in front of the three Decepticons and pretending to fire his null-rays at them. "I hate you and all your kind."

"Oh no!" Icy cried. "Whatever shall we do?"

"We don't want to fight!" Spaceflower replied. "Please, Autobot! We come in peace!"

Starscream looked down at his script, which said he was supposed to pretend to shoot Spaceflower. Well, if he was only _pretending_…Starscream lifted his arms to fake-shoot his null-rays. Blitzwing, to his surprise, jumped dramatically in front of Spaceflower to take the hit, then collapsed onto the ground.

"No!" Spaceflower shrieked, then started to fake-cry again. "Why? _Why_?"

"It…it was for a worthy cause, my dear," Blitzwing, still in his Icy face mode, replied valiantly. "I am not afraid of going offline for the Decepticon cause."

"Please don't go offline!" Spaceflower cried. "I love you!"

"How could you do that, Autobot?" Megatron demanded, stepping in front of the two of them. "And you say we are the evil ones! Remember, I do this in self-defense only!"

Before Starscream could prepare himself, Megatron had delivered a quick punch to his chestplate and knocked him right on the ground. It actually hurt, so Starscream was laying there for one moment, cursing this musical and Megatron, who wrote the stupid thing.

Lugnut looked down at his script. "Undoubtedly you Decepticons want to rule Cybertron! Too bad, because we Autobots want it for ourselves! We will control everyone evilly and ruthlessly!"

"Why can't we all just get along?" Megatron asked.

"Sing with me, one more time," Spaceflower pleaded.

"I'll…I'll try, my dear," Blitzwing replied, pretending to be wounded.

"Cut," said Spaceflower. "Now we can skip to the end scene, which is almost entirely in song. My favorite scene!"

"I'm still being the Autobot, right?" Starscream asked, looking up from his place on the floor.

"Yes," Spaceflower replied. "Lugnut too…but you all can sing again, of course!"

"Sounds fun," Starscream replied, standing up, even though it didn't sound that fun at all. He and everyone else went to the center of the room and started their lines.

"Finally!" Megatron shouted. "We have escaped from the stockades and have rule of Cybertron!"

"Now everyone will be so happy!" Spaceflower cried.

"You said it, my dear!" Blitzwing replied, kissing her cheek. _Oh for Spark_'_s sake_, Starscream thought. Why did they have to be in love onstage _and _in real life?

"Curse you, Decepticons!" Starscream hollered, shaking his fist at them.

"You're nothing but pure evil, Megatron!" Lugnut added, looking pained. Starscream wasn't surprised. It must have hurt him greatly to insult his wonderful leader, even if it was only in a musical.

"Now, Cybertron is mine!" Megatron concluded enthusiastically.

That was when the finale song started, though, so Spaceflower cut them off.

"Great job, everyone!" she gushed. "This musical is going to be fantastic! We're going to have a few lines-only rehearsals, and then it will be time for the actual singing and dancing. I'm going to hand each of you a copy of the songs-only script, so you can start working on it if you want."

When Spaceflower finally got to Starscream and handed him a copy, she said, "I hope your vocal processor gets fixed soon. You still want to sing, right?"

"I do," he lied.

Everyone left the room, and Starscream went back to his own room. _Might as well look over the song list_, he thought, not knowing what else he could do. He skipped past his song for now, and skipped past Lugnut and Megatron's song, but instead looked at the song Spaceflower and Blitzwing were supposed to sing. They had three songs together in the whole musical, but the stockade one was the first song, so he looked at that one first. The song was intense and rather romantic, even, about their love continuing even though they were locked up, and how they would work together to free themselves from oppression.

Starscream hadn't written Blitzwing and Spaceflower's songs. They had helped him write the lyrics and the score to his own songs, but then he had let them write their songs on their own. Blitzwing and Spaceflower had written both the lyrics and the score to almost all the songs in the musical, and Megatron had written the script. Basically, Starscream just recited his lines and helped Spaceflower organize and direct when he could. He'd promised to help with the set, too, so he was almost like stage crew in that way.

Blitzwing and Spaceflower's second song was almost the same. She sang about how she was going to miss him so much when he went offline. For some reason, even though he was supposedly about to die, Blitzwing's character was still able to sing many verses of the song, and then—Starscream gasped with startled horror—they were supposed to _kiss_ at the end of this song! A long, romantic kiss! And the worst part of all was that once they started singing the songs in rehearsal, he would have to watch every single time they "rehearsed" this kiss.

Starscream threw the song-script on the floor of his room and groaned. Why couldn't _he_ be the one who got to have a wonderful singing voice and talent for dancing? Why couldn't _he_ be the one who got to kiss Spaceflower? Why was _everything _going wrong?

_One Earth week later_…

Finally, everyone had, for the most part, memorized their lines. They were still allowed to have their scripts for now, in case they forgot something, but Spaceflower insisted they try to rely on their memory cores only.

Unfortunately, now that the talking part of the musical was down, it was time for the part Starscream dreaded the most—the singing and dancing. Blitzwing had been teaching him how to dance, and he wasn't that bad, but nobody, he knew, could turn this horrible singer into a fabulous one. Spaceflower was agreeing to skip his songs during rehearsal, since his vocal processor was still damaged, as long as he memorized the lyrics and score on his own time. Starscream agreed to this plan, but knew it would only work until opening night.

The first music rehearsal was like torture. Starscream watched Spaceflower and Blitzwing sing their stockade song, and Spaceflower was right—Blitzwing _was _a great singer, almost as good as she was. And the Cybertronian battle scene was even worse, because he had to watch them kiss after the song. Spaceflower took her boyfriend's face in hers and gently pressed her lips against his, like he was all she wanted in the world. He tried to remind himself that she was only acting, but still he got the feeling that she wasn'tacting at all.

Over and over again he had to do this, staying on the sidelines as the oppressive Autobot while Megatron, Blitzwing and Spaceflower played the brave, honorable Decepticons. Megatron, to his surprise, was a pretty good singer too. Lugnut was horrible, but except for his number with Megatron, he didn't have a lot of singing to do, so it was fine.

Every rehearsal went badly for Starscream and he went back to his room as quickly as possible after every one, locking the door and memorizing the cracks in the ceiling, wondering if Spaceflower could _really _pull his spark out and tear it into tiny little pieces. He decided she could, and did.

And what about Blitzwing? Blitzwing _knew _Starscream loved Spaceflower. Why did he deliberately make his musical numbers with Spaceflower as romantic as possible? Was he _trying _to make Starscream miserable?

Only about one week before opening night, they were faced with a new concern. They had been working so hard on the musical that they hadn't even thought about who would be their audience.

"What about the Autobots?" Blitzwing's "Icy" face suggested, waving his hand in the air. "Then maybe we could show them we are not as evil as they think we are."

Megatron appeared to be thinking for a few moments, then replied, "Fine, but we have to send someone to assure them beforehand that it is not a trap."

"I'll go," Spaceflower volunteered sweetly. "Just give me the coordinates?"

Megatron gave her the coordinates to the Autobots' home base, and she left. Everyone else walked away as she turned into a jet and soared into the sky, but Starscream stared after her, his spark filled with pain and longing. He had never wanted _anyone_ this much before. He would even give up the title "Exalted Leader of the Decepticons" for her, and he hadn't even accomplished that. Not yet, anyway.

About two solar cycles later (during which Starscream had, for the most part, moped around the base and consumed much more energon than he should have), Spaceflower finally returned, with good news.

"The Autobots say they'll watch our musical," she informed the other Decepticons happily. "Their leader, Optimus Prime, says he'll be watching to see if it's a trap, but he'll bring everyone in case it isn't. They asked me if we could stage it on their base, and I said yes. That's okay, right?"

Megatron shook his head. "As long as you convinced them."

"You're not going to attack them, are you?" Spaceflower asked. "This really isn't a trap, is it?"

"For once, this is not a trap," Hothead cut in. "It is for the musical only!"

"We need _someone _to be our audience, after all this work," Megatron agreed.

"_I_ don't see it as work." Spaceflower smiled and shrugged.

Blitzwing's face switched to Random again, and he declared, "Then let's begin the last rehearsal before opening night!"

As usual, Starscream basically sat through the whole rehearsal, acting and reciting his lines only when he had to. Pretty much everything was perfected. He was dreading the end scene, though, since not only would he have to lie about his damaged vocal processor _again_, he would have to watch Blitzwing and Spaceflower dance with each other as they and everyone else happily sang.

Megatron had just finished singing his part of the song, and Spaceflower started dancing and singing in her beautiful voice. She couldn't sing him to sleep when singing the musical songs, but Starscream still felt a little hypnotized. Once her part was over, Blitzwing grabbed her servo and led her in an elaborate dance, singing wonderfully, as he always did. They were dancing faster and faster, looking into each others' optics. Starscream looked away, scowling.

He heard their singing, laughter and dancing, until suddenly—he wasn't quite sure how or when it happened—he heard Spaceflower and Blitzwing both scream, and then a loud CRASH!

Starscream turned around and saw Blitzwing lying on the ground, face down, not moving. Spaceflower, looking panicked, ran over to him.

"Blitzwing? Are you okay?" she cried.

Blitzwing tried to stand up, but collapsed. Spaceflower caught him just before he hit the floor again.

"I think his leg's broken!" Spaceflower cried. "Blitzwing, are you okay?"

Blitzwing opened his mouth, but nothing but a gush of air came out.

"Speak to me, Blitzwing!" Spaceflower shrieked, hugging him tight.

"I…I…my voice…" Blitzwing croaked out, and clutched his throat in pain.

"His vocal processor is broken!" Spaceflower cradled Blitzwing in her arms, looking more upset than Starscream had ever seen her. "Is he going to go offline?"

"I'll…I'll be okay…" Blitzwing whispered, barely able to choke out the words.

"But who will play his part in the musical?" Spaceflower asked, looking around worriedly. "If he can't dance, and he can't sing, then…"

Blitzwing pointed one shaking servo at Starscream. "Looks like…looks like you're going to have to handle this one, Starscream."

"But I can't—" Starscream began. He would love to have that theater kiss with Spaceflower, and all that stage time, but the thought of how much dancing and singing Blitzwing had to do made his oil tubes churn.

"Come on, I haven't heard you sing _once_ since I arrived here," Spaceflower pleaded. "Your vocal processor can't be _that _damaged! You're the only one who can do it. We can have Lugnut fill in with the lines you originally had, and you can take Blitzwing's part instead. Please do it. For the musical? For _me_?"

Spaceflower was staring at Starscream, her optics full of sadness. She was counting on him. And he couldn't say no to her. He was going to have to sing. He might not be able to sing, but he could try.

"Okay, I'll do it," he told her, voice shaking.

"Thank you, Starscream," Spaceflower whispered. "Thank you."

"The show…must go on," Blitzwing choked, then fainted right in Spaceflower's arms.


	4. Performance

The next solar cycle was the musical, to be staged at the Autobots' base. Starscream hadn't gotten any recharge the night before, and he could hardly walk _or _fly. He had never been this nervous in his entire life cycle.

Spaceflower was holding his servo, practically dragging him along, saying things like, "Come on, it's not going to be _that_ bad!" and "I know you can do it, I _know _it."

He knew all of Blitzwing's lines, and even though he wasn't nearly as good at dancing, he could probably modify the dance moves so that he could still pull off the choreography right. But how was he going to sing? Blitzwing was right—if he humiliated himself during the musical, Spaceflower would never love him.

They were bringing Blitzwing along, to be part of the audience, and Blackarachnia, and of course Lugnut and Megatron. Blitzwing was still having trouble walking and talking, but he could still transform and fly. Around afternoon, everyone transformed and flew off to the Autobots' base. By the time they got there, the sun had set, and it was time to perform.

"Um…hello," Optimus Prime said, looking tentative.

"Hello, yourself," Megatron replied simply, then walked up to the stage. "Is everyone ready?"

_Definitely NOT_, Starscream thought, but he kept this thought to himself. Everyone nodded, and the lights dimmed. Finally, the spotlight focused on Megatron and he recited his speech perfectly. Lugnut went up to the stage with Spaceflower to perform the scene where he was supposed to capture her and drag her off to the stockade (it was originally Starscream's role, but, as Spaceflower suggested, they had replaced his old "Oppressive Autobot" role with Lugnut).

The next scene was Lugnut and Megatron's, and Starscream sat through it, feeling pained, as Lugnut and Megatron sang their duet. He looked at the Autobots, who seemed shocked. In their defense, this musical _was _rather…weird. They probably had no idea Megatron could sing—or that _any _Decepticons could sing, for that matter.

And the next scene was Starscream and Spaceflower's.

"We're on," Spaceflower whispered, pulling his servo again. He nodded nervously, reminding himself that he knew all the lines, and he was okay with the dance moves, and he just needed to attemptto sing. The show _must_ go on.

They got to the part of the scene where the song started without any major problems, but now it was time. The song was starting. Spaceflower began to sing in her clear, honey-sweet voice, and Starscream knew that soon it would be his turn, and everything would be ruined.

Starscream drew a deep breath and opened his mouth, about to "sing", when suddenly he heard a familiar voice flawlessly singing the words to the song. Starscream looked and, hiding behind the set, there was Blitzwing, singing, his vocal processor apparently in perfect shape. He kept singing but motioned to his lips and without thinking, Starscream began to lip-sync. Blitzwing sang and sang as the song went on, and Starscream just moved his lips, playing along.

Finally the song was over. Spaceflower smiled her beautiful smile and Starscream sighed in relief. Before he knew it, though, Megatron jumped in front of him, cannon at the ready, and thundered, "Fear not, prisoners! We are here to break you out!"

"Not so fast, Megatron!" Lugnut hollered, taking on Starscream's old role as the "warden". "You can't take my Decepticons!"

"Can't I?" Megatron growled, and pretended to shoot his cannon at Lugnut. Lugnut winced in fake pain and fell down on the floor.

"Hurry, let's go!" Spaceflower cried, and grabbed Starscream. They followed Megatron offstage dramatically, then, after waiting a few cycles, ran onstage again for the Cybertronian battle scene. Starscream was feeling nervous again, for this was the scene where he was going to kiss Spaceflower.

Starscream waited for the time when he was supposed to take a hit for Spaceflower and save her life, supposedly sacrificing his own. Lugnut pretended to shoot her, and, just as he had seen Blitzwing do thousands of times, Starscream jumped in front of her, then collapsed on the floor, screaming in pain.

He then recited his lines about how he was sacrificing his life for the Decepticon cause, watched as Megatron and Lugnut battled, then listened as Spaceflower begged him, "Sing with me, one more time!"

"I'll…I'll try, my dear," Starscream replied as weakly as he could.

This time he was to sing first, and he looked nervously at Blitzwing. Blitzwing nodded happily and started to sing. Starscream lip-synced, until finally his part was over and Spaceflower's beautiful voice filled the room, the sad notes to the song melting Starscream's spark.

And then the song was done.

"Rest in peace, my love," Spaceflower whispered, taking Starscream's face in her lovely, lovely servos. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Starscream whispered back, spark beating incredibly fast against his chestplate as he looked up at her. Spaceflower wanted him to kiss her, even if it _was_ only for the musical, and he wanted to kiss her. So…

Spaceflower drew Starscream's face closer to hers as he lay on the ground until finally their lips met. Starscream wrapped his arms around her, startled at the sudden electrifying feeling that shot throughout his circuitry, starting at his lips. He hoped he wouldn't go into overload just by kissing her—now THAT would be embarrassing, maybe even more embarrassing than his last musical experience. What a horrible choice. But then he found himself melting into the kiss, and forgot where he was.

He held Spaceflower tighter, savoring this moment, and even though Blitzwing usually stayed down on the floor during this kiss, Starscream got up and kneeled on the floor like Spaceflower was, pulling both of them deeper into the kiss, loving every single second.

All too soon, Spaceflower pulled away. Her optics were shining, and she looked happier than Starscream had ever seen her. Was she still acting (she was a pretty good actress), or had she legitimately enjoyed the kiss?

There was no time to wonder, though, for next up was the end scene, with everyone in it. They finished the talking part again, then Megatron, who sang first, belted out the lyrics to his part of the song, and Lugnut was singing along, even though Starscream was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be.

After Megatron was finished, Spaceflower began to sing. Starscream, feeling okay now, maybe even a little happy, stood next to her until it was his turn to "sing" and dance with her. He grabbed her servo and led her into their dance scene as he lip-synced to Blitzwing's voice coming from behind the set. They danced and danced, until Blitzwing's part ended and it was Spaceflower's turn to sing again. She sang higher and higher, her perfect voice reverberating throughout the base, while Starscream shouted, "Sing, my love, sing! Sing for me!"

Spaceflower sang. The Autobots were on their feet, cheering and applauding. Blitzwing started to sing again too, and Starscream, after he was done lip-syncing and Spaceflower was done singing live, he held servos with her and bowed.

_Later_…

It was past midnight, and the Decepticons were still partying, back at their base. After being congratulated by the Autobots (a rare occasion), they had flown home and Megatron had brought out almost all the energon they had and declared an energon party.

Starscream approached Blitzwing first. Blitzwing was standing by the energon cubes with his Icy face on, looking perfectly healthy as he poured some energon down his throat.

"Um…I just wanted to thank you…you know, for saving my circuits back at the musical," Starscream began, fidgeting as he spoke. He didn't do this often. "It must have been hard for you to give up your role and the kiss, since I know you're in love with Spaceflower and all."

Icy gave a small laugh, then replied, "Are you kidding? If I was in love with her, I would not have done that for you. We are just friends. That is what I have been trying to tell you. I faked injury so you could take the role I used to have. I knew you loved her and wanted my role much more than I did, so I gave it to you."

"That was…erm…very kind of you," Starscream told him. "And I'm glad you filled in for me on the song parts. I thought I was going to go offline for a moment there."

Blitzwing nodded. "Besides, my friend, Spaceflower is more interested in you than she is in me. She always talked about you, when you were not there. She said you were so thoughtful to help out so much with the musical, and so funny and smart…and not to mention _incredibly_ handsome."

Starscream looked down into his energon cube, trying to hide his blushing. Spaceflower really said all these things?

"As I said," Blitzwing continued, smiling slightly, "you belong better with her. I am just friends with her. She is simply not my type."

Starscream paused, thinking. "What do you mean, Spaceflower isn't your type? She's _exactly_ your type. She loves singing and dancing, just like you, and you guys always seem so happy when you're with each other."

"We enjoy each others' company because we are friends," Blitzwing replied matter-of-factly, "and you are right. She is _too_ much like me. I want someone who is more different than I am, to make it exciting." His face switched to Random, and he added happily, "After all, why would I want to date myself?"

Blitzwing started laughing again and slapped Starscream on the back, then drank some more energon. Starscream knew that the more energon Blitzwing drank, the more often his Random face showed up, so he figured he'd better leave now while Blitzwing was still relatively sober.

"Yeah, um, good luck with that, Blitzwing," Starscream said, walking slowly away. "I'm going to go and talk to Spaceflower."

Blitzwing nodded, still drinking. Starscream left to go find Spaceflower, but before he knew it a huge blast from Megatron's fusion cannon had soared across the room. Starscream instinctively jumped out of the way and the blast shattered the wall behind him.

"_LUGNUT_!" Megatron hollered. "IF YOU ATTEMPT THAT AGAIN, I AM GOING TO SHOOT YOU TO PIECES!"

"Y-Yes, my liege," Lugnut mumbled, an energon cube in his servo.

"And I think you have consumed quite enough energon!" Megatron added, swiping the energon cube away from Lugnut. "Now get out of my sight."

"As you w-wish, M-Master." Lugnut stumbled away. Megatron shook his head and sighed.

Starscream tried to slip inconspicuously past. He was pretty sure what Lugnut had "attempted", in his confused status, but he didn't want to think about it. Finally, he found Spaceflower standing by herself, sipping some energon.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey." Spaceflower looked up and smiled a little. "Great job in the musical."

"Thanks. You were great, too."

Spaceflower sighed, the smile suddenly gone from her face. "Come on, let's go back to the energon table."

"Um, okay," Starscream replied, and followed her. Once they were there, she sat down, and motioned for him to do the same. He poured himself some more energon, since he had only had a little yet, and drank it up as she talked.

"Starscream…" Spaceflower took a long sip of energon, then asked, "Why did you lie to me?"

"_What_?" Starscream yelled, nearly choking on his energon.

"During the musical, I noticed you were lip-syncing from the start, and I saw Blitzwing doing the singing, plus I recognized his voice, anyway," Spaceflower explained. "So while the energon party was getting set up, I cornered him and asked him why he was suddenly able to sing so well. He admitted he had faked injury so you could take his role, and told me you had never been able to sing, that the only reason you were doing this musical was to impress me."

Note to self: _Kill Blitzwing later_.

"Well?" Spaceflower asked.

Starscream was thinking. She was staring at him, waiting for an explanation, and he was wondering what to say. He knew lying was a bad habit of his, but he figured that now, maybe—just _maybe_—he should tell Spaceflower the truth.

"The truth is, Spaceflower…what Blitzwing said is true." Starscream took a deep breath. "You see, I _was _trying to impress you. Not just at the musical, but from the solar cycle I met you. I knew how much you loved music and singing, and even though I'm a terrible singer, I lied and told you I was a great singer."

Spaceflower was looking down into her energon cube, and Starscream could tell she was hurt. He didn't blame her. Nobody wants to be lied to. Since he felt it was the only thing he could do, Starscream just continued talking.

"It's true that I was in a musical when I was young, except I was really bad in it," Starscream told her. "I was the worst singer there. Everyone else teased me, and nobody wanted to be my friend. It's my secret and you're the first one I've ever told. I thought maybe…I don't know, I guess I thought if I told you I couldn't sing, _you_ wouldn't like me either." He paused. "It was a really mean thing of me to do, lie to you I mean, and I wish I hadn't done it. I'm sorry."

Spaceflower finally gave a shaky sigh and looked up. "You didn't need to lie to me, Starscream. I don't care if you can't sing. Don't you remember? You never sang once since I arrived here, and I loved being around you. You were so funny and smart and even though you didn't sing, and you didn't have a very big part in the musical until Blitzwing's fake injury, you were still so helpful. Every time you left, I wished you would come back so I could be with you some more."

"Guess you don't feel that way now."

Spaceflower shrugged and smiled slightly. "It's okay. I can understand why you lied now. Since we're being honest here, I might have done the exact same thing. School must have been terrible for you."

"_Beyond_ terrible," Starscream replied, finishing his energon and grabbing some more. Spaceflower did, too. The more energon they had, it seemed, the more they wanted.

"But anyway," Spaceflower said, as she set down her energon, "it's true that you performed well in the musical."

"You think so?" Starscream smiled slightly.

"Remember that kiss scene?" Spaceflower asked sweetly. "Very convincing. You might be a bad singer, but you're also a great actor."

Before he knew what he was doing, Starscream had gently taken her face into his hands, she had smiled shyly and wrapped her arms around his neck, and they were kissing again, wonderfully, even more wonderfully than they had during the musical.

Finally Starscream pulled away and gave her a soft smile. "My dear, I wasn't acting."


	5. Energon and Beyond

Chapter 5—_a few megacycles later_…

"LUGNUT, GET BACK HERE AT ONCE!" Megatron thundered. Starscream pushed a startled Spaceflower out of the way as Megatron fired blast after blast out of that fusion cannon of his. Lugnut was still stumbling around, holding another energon cube, his words almost incomprehensible. Blitzwing was running back and forth, screeching with laughter, screaming, "Missed me! Missed me!"

"Sorry about that," Starscream said, feeling embarrassed. "They're all kind of hard to deal with when they've had too much energon." As yet another blast from the cannon flew past his head, he added, "_Especially_ Megatron…in fact, if I was in charge, I wouldn't let him have any energon at all. Or I'd at least take his weapons away first."

"Erm…what happened to Blitzwing's armor?" Spaceflower asked, looking like she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know.

"Don't ask me," Starscream replied, rolling his optics. "I try to avoid him when he's drunk."

"That seems like a good idea," Spaceflower said pensively. "You know, I think this party is getting out of control. No offense."

"None taken," Starscream told her. "It's Megatron's fault. Whenever we score some big Decepticon victory, he organizes these idiot energon parties and then he just gets drunk and overrides his CPU."

"Looks like you haven't had that much energon," Spaceflower observed.

"Well…I _have _had a little, actually," Starscream admitted. "But nowhere near as certain unnamed parties…"

"Hey, Screamer, how 'bout another round over here?" Blitzwing hollered, climbing on top of the energon table and snatching a fresh energon cube. Starscream pushed him off.

"Blitzwing, you glitch-head!" he yelled. "Stop this foolishness at once! You're embarrassing me!"

"G-Great and…g-glorious leader! C-Come back!" Lugnut babbled, chasing after Megatron, who turned around every so often to try and shoot him, but thanks to the energon his usually perfect aim was more than a little off. Spaceflower shrieked as another shot from the cannon nearly blasted her to pieces.

"All right, let's get out of here," Starscream grumbled, pulling Spaceflower out of the main room and into the hallway.

"Thanks," she whispered, leaning her head against his chestplate.

Starscream held her close. "No problem."

"You know…" Spaceflower smiled shyly. "We _could_ go back to your room for a little bit. I mean, just until the party's over."

Starscream glanced at Spaceflower in shock. She wanted to go back to _his _room? Spaceflower looked up at him, smiling, waiting for an answer.

_Should_ they? Who knew what would happen? Even though both of them were sober enough to think straight, they _had _consumed quite a bit of energon. And that could scramble one's circuits, especially the kind of energon that Megatron liked. But…was that a _bad _thing, necessarily? Starscream's spark beat faster at the mere thought of this delectable Decepticon in his bed with him.

"Well, I…I guess we've got nothing to lose," Starscream told her nervously. He was feeling quite similar to the way he felt right before the musical, like he might blow a gasket. Except this time it felt…different, like something good might actually come out of this. Something very good, if he got to experience overload. And if he got to experience Spaceflower's overload too, well…

Starscream allowed himself to be led down the hallway, all the way into his quarters, where his bed was waiting, and his chair too. He sat down in his chair and beckoned Spaceflower to come sit in his lap. She smiled and sat down, and only a few cycles later, the two of them were kissing furiously. Starscream knew straight from that moment during the musical that Spaceflower was a very, very good kisser.

Spaceflower withdrew her lips from Starscream's for one moment. "You know, Starscream…you really _are_ handsome."

"Thank you," he replied, glad she thought that way. He then resumed their kissing, throwing himself into it as he stroked her wings and back.

Spaceflower broke out of the kiss again and began to stroke his wings, too, not too much but enough to make him quiver. She then slid her fingers down to the area around his interface panel (which she carefully avoided), but there was quite a bit of extremely sensitive circuitry around there anyway, and he gasped pleasurably as he felt himself finally release some lubricant. She glanced up and smiled knowingly.

She moved one tantalizing claw back up to his wings again, stroking softly. Her other one was still "exploring" his lower regions. He felt himself beginning to pressurize—more and more, and quickly, too, as she kept this up.

"Don't worry, my love," she cooed. "Just sit back and relax."

That was it. The stimulation of both his wings and his interface region, simultaneously, combined with the sound of her voice (which was enough in itself), was too much for him. His spike let itself out, and Spaceflower gently lifted it right into her mouth, her glossa practically torturing him by now. Starscream moaned with satisfaction, wanting this to go on for at least two megacycles, but finally forced himself to sit up.

"Spaceflower," he asked weakly, "you ready for that bed?"

She laid back on his bed and he climbed on top of her. (He knew he wasn't going to squish her because she was only a little smaller than he was.) He spread her thighs and slid two fingers into her valve as gently as he could, knowing that if he pressed any harder his claws could hurt her. She gasped and smiled, then closed her optics and wrapped her legs around him.

"Listen, my love," he whispered quickly. "If you want me to stop at any time, just…just tell me, okay? I'm not going to force you into anything."

"Who said I wanted you to stop?" Spaceflower breathed. He smiled, and kept his fingers inside her for a good cycle or two, feeling her grow warm with lubricant and feeling himself grow extremely pressurized. He finally took his fingers out and penetrated, wanting to feel her overload almost as much as he wanted to feel his own. Maybe it was the fact that he finally had this beautiful femme he loved in his bed, or maybe it was simply the energon, but he knew he needed this. She gasped again and squeezed her legs tighter around her Seeker.

"Does it…does it hurt?" he asked quickly. "I-I don't want to hurt you."

Spaceflower's optics were still closed, that sweet smile still on her lips. "Feels _good_…"

He began his thrusting slowly, then quicker as the feeling intensified. He was gasping for breath, focused on the fantastic sensation of moving in and out of her. The stimulation was getting better and better still; he knew his overload would be coming soon.

"I…I don't think I can…last much longer, my love," Starscream hissed, barely able to choke the words out.

"Keep doing…what you're doing…" Spaceflower whispered back.

As both of them somehow lost the ability to talk, Starscream's speech was reduced to loud, enraptured moaning, complemented by Spaceflower's constant, high-pitched squeals of delight. _This is wonderful_, _this is FANTASTIC_, _this is the best interface I_'_ve ever had_—_OHH dear Primus_—

Starscream froze and cried out as his overload hit, filling his whole body with a wave of the best feeling he had ever experienced. He collapsed on top of her, giving a quiet little kind of whine as silvery-white transfluid soaked them both.

Spaceflower shrieked, tensed up, then relaxed, and Starscream knew her own overload had come. She let her legs fall back onto the bed and whimpered with pleasure. He held her close, panting heavily, and slowly withdrew, climbing off of her to lay next to her instead. She snuggled into him, spark beating quickly.

As gently as he could, he stroked her wings and kissed her lips. He realized the two of them were both covered in lubricant and transfluid, but couldn't bring himself to care. He felt himself smiling internally whenever he heard her sigh softly, knowing she was enjoying this. _That makes two of us_, he thought. He slowly slid one claw down her body and rubbed her inner thighs, kissing the top of her head as she drifted into recharge. Soon, he had done the same.

_That afternoon_…

Bright sunlight stung Starscream's optics as he slowly forced them open. He looked around, feeling disoriented. _What is going on_? _Why am I still in bed_? _Why am I all_, _erm_, _wet_? _And for Spark_'_s sake_, _why is my interface panel open_?

Starscream laid back and noticed Spaceflower, still recharging peacefully next to him, a smile on her lips. Oh, yes. The party. The interface. The overload…

Being careful not to wake her, Starscream softly kissed Spaceflower's head again then got out of bed, heading for his self-maintenance facilities. He took a very long, very hot shower (thank Primus he didn't have to share facilities with Lugnut—that was poor Blitzwing), then went down to the main room.

He was kind of taken aback—the room was a mess. There were empty energon cubes scattered everywhere, and gaping holes in the walls from Megatron's fusion cannon. Megatron was gone—_probably sleeping off a hangover_, Starscream thought, rolling his optics. Lugnut was sprawled out on the floor, apparently still recharging, and Blitzwing was slumped over at the energon table, head down, clutching a big oil barrel. Starscream sat down across from him.

"Um…Blitzwing?" Starscream asked, tapping his wingflap. "What happened to you?"

"Woke up next to Lugnut with huge processor ache," Blitzwing groaned, his Icy face back. He weakly lifted up the oil barrel. "The oil will help."

"Oh for Spark's sake, give me that!" Starscream yelled, snatching the oil barrel away. "Oil only makes it _worse_, you downgrade! If you want to feel better, you'll just have to wait a few megacycles. Besides, this barrel's almost empty anyway."

"Where did my armor go?" Blitzwing asked drowsily, still not lifting his head up off the table.

"How am I supposed to know?" Starscream said. "For the love of Primus, Blitzwing, you must have consumed half the energon at that party last night."

"W-What party?" Blitzwing mumbled, reaching out for the oil barrel.

"I'm not giving you this, especially if you can't even remember what happened," Starscream snapped.

"N-Need it!" Blitzwing sat up and clapped both servos over his mouth.

"Honestly!" Starscream handed it over, knowing Blitzwing was going to blow a gasket soon, and hurried back to his quarters to see how Spaceflower was faring. When he got there she was still in bed but awake now, both arms folded behind her head. She smiled when she saw Starscream.

"Good morning," Spaceflower said, smiling her beautiful smile.

"More like good afternoon, my love," Starscream replied, sitting down next to her and stroking her head. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Spaceflower turned over in bed and closed her eyes. "Tired, though."

"It's okay," Starscream told her. "You can take a shower in my facilities, you know, when you're a little less tired. I have my own so nobody will be in there."

"Thanks," she replied.

"No problem." He leaned down to kiss her head again. "Oh and…I suggest you stay away from Blitzwing for a while. He's seriously hung over. Megatron too, I think. Lugnut is still passed out on the floor. My guess is either he had way too much energon or Megatron shot him."

"Or both." Spaceflower giggled.

"Maybe so," Starscream agreed, since that actually wasn't a very far-fetched theory.

Now that she was awake, though, he was wondering if he should mention their interfacing from last night. Had she forgotten everything, like Blitzwing had? It wasn't something that was easy to forget, though. What if she remembered it, but intended to act like it never happened? Starscream shuddered at what she might say if he brought it up—"Last night never happened." What if she decided it was only a "one-night stand"? What if she never spoke to him again?

"You were really great last night," Spaceflower suddenly said.

"So it…it was okay?" Starscream asked nervously, knowing he was blushing again.

Spaceflower reached out, and he hugged her. "Of course, sweetie. We'll have to do it again sometime."

_Again_? Starscream remembered telling Megatron, back on the _Nemesis_, that he didn't believe in luck, either. _Screw that_, he thought. Of course he was lucky! Spaceflower wanted to interface with him again. What do you call that?

Well, talent, maybe. Skill, too. After all, if he was bad in bed, she wouldn't want to interface again, would she? Definitely not…but that wasn't a concern.


	6. Surprise

_Several solar cycles later_…

"Hey, Blitzwing, could you get us a barrel of oil over here?" Starscream called to Blitzwing, who was standing over by their refrigerator, rummaging around for some leftover energon. "We're kind of thirsty."

"Get it yourself!" Blitzwing's Hothead face yelled back. "What do I look like, your personal servant?"

"Well…actually…" Starscream said, grinning, and Spaceflower giggled.

It was morning and they had just left Starscream's room. Spaceflower still had to be roommates with Blackarachnia (who had thrown a fit at the news, but was ordered to "shut up" by Megatron), but Spaceflower was mostly spending her nights in Starscream's room now. This happened to be the very morning after a glorious night filled with multiple overloads, and Starscream and Spaceflower were both in unusually happy moods.

Starscream got up and got one oil barrel out of the refrigerator and two straws. He took the oil barrel back to the table and stuck both straws in.

"Oil, my love?" he asked.

"Oh, Starscream!" Spaceflower giggled. "That's adorable!"

She started drinking the oil out of one straw, Starscream the other. Lugnut sat down next to them, clutching a crumpled-up sheet of paper.

"What's with the paper?" Starscream asked.

"It's one of Megatron's maps of Cybertron," Lugnut told him. "You know, after he conquers it. I have the utmost confidence in him."

"Wow, it was awfully kind of him to lend it to you," Starscream said sarcastically.

Lugnut looked nervous, but didn't say anything back. Starscream knew Lugnut was scared of Megatron finding out why all his belongings were slowly disappearing, such as maps of a Decepticon-controlled Cybertron (obviously), weapons, battle souvenirs, and extra armor, not to mention empty oil containers, energon cubes, and Primus knows what else. Only Lugnut knew the full contents of his Megatron shrine, and Starscream didn't want to know.

Spaceflower giggled again. "Starscream, you're so funny! Come here, sweetie!"

Starscream grabbed her and initiated a passionate kiss, losing awareness of everything around him until he heard Lugnut holler, "Would you glitch-heads STOP it? You're making me sick!"

"I don't think you're in any place to be calling anyone a glitch-head, considering you _are_ one," Starscream retorted.

"Ah, the 'honeymoon phase'," they heard Blitzwing's "Icy" face say, as he approached the table. "All you can think of is your significant other." He soon switched back to Hothead. "Before you know it, all you will want to do is rip each others' heads off!"

"Why would I want to rip Spaceflower's head off?" Starscream asked. "All I want to do now is rip _your_ head off, Blitzwing. And maybe Lugnut's and Megatron's too, while I'm at it."

"I call Megatron!" Lugnut blurted out. Everyone stared for a moment, not saying anything.

"Lugnut, we all know you'd love to 'play' with Megatron's offline body every night, but wouldn't that be just a _little_ disrespectful to his memory?" Starscream finally asked airily.

Spaceflower looked a little concerned. "You know, Lugnut, maybe you should see somebody about this."

"Don't bother, baby, we tried that stellar cycles ago," Starscream told her. "I also tried to convince Blitzwing to see somebody for his multiple personality disorder, but _he _didn't listen to me either."

"And I'm still the life of the party!" Blitzwing's Random face added, then screeched with laughter. Starscream would have been more annoyed, but Spaceflower, to his surprise, spun him around and kissed him on the lips. Starscream usually didn't like surprises, but in this case he figured he could make an exception.

"I love you, Starscream," she cooed, stroking his wings. By now she knew that was one of his hot spots, and once she started speaking in that beguiling voice, she could get Starscream to do anything.

At that moment, Megatron walked into the room and sat down at the table next to Blitzwing. He narrowed his eyes and commanded, "Lugnut, bring me some energon at once."

"Yes, my liege!" Lugnut replied, thrilled at the opportunity to serve the mighty Megatron. He bolted to the refrigerator, Blitzwing following.

"I regret to inform you that we do not have much energon left after the party," Icy told Megatron. "We have plenty of oil though."

"Lugnut, bring me some oil," Megatron said impatiently. Lugnut grabbed a huge barrel of oil and slammed it in front of Megatron.

"What do you put in this oil, Megatron?" Spaceflower asked, lifting up her barrel.

"Is something wrong with it?" Megatron asked nonchalantly.

"I…I feel kind of…sick," Spaceflower told him. "Maybe it's, you know, expired."

"It doesn't taste any different to me," Starscream told her, feeling concerned. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Actually I did have a little bit of a processor ache this morning," Spaceflower said unhappily, setting the oil barrel down.

"She probably just needs a tune-up," Icy said matter-of-factly. "It happens."

Spaceflower nodded, looking relieved. "That's right, Blitzwing, thanks. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"I hope so," Starscream said. "Don't drink any more of the oil though."

"Don't worry," Spaceflower whispered, leaning into him. "I won't."

"More oil for you, my liege!" Lugnut shouted to Megatron, heading to the refrigerator and setting another barrel in front of his beloved Master.

"Did I _tell _you to get me more oil, Lugnut?" Megatron asked coldly. "Do not get me any more unless I ask."

"Yes, my liege!" Lugnut replied, and sat back down. Megatron looked exasperated.

"Starscream, are you done with that oil?" Spaceflower suddenly asked, sounding frantic.

"I guess so, why?"

Spaceflower grabbed the can and stood up from the table. "That oil! I think I'm going to blow a gasket!"

With that she grabbed the can and ran out of the room.

"Megatron, how are we going to get her a tune-up when there are no Decepticon medic bots here on Earth?" Starscream cried, feeling alarmed. "She could go offline!"

"Do not question Megatron!" Lugnut shouted, pushing Starscream off his chair and onto the floor. "She's _your _problem, not his!"

"Shut up, Lugnut!" Starscream picked himself up off the floor and sat back down. "No girlfriend of _mine _is going to suffer. I need to help her."

Blitzwing's Icy face looked pensive. "The Autobots have a medic bot. Just take her to them."

"Like they would help her," said Starscream. "They unconventionally hate all Decepticons, including her."

"They did give her a standing ovation at the musical, Starscream," Megatron reminded him coolly, sipping his oil.

"Well…I'll try it," Starscream said. "This afternoon I'll take her."

_That afternoon_…

Starscream and Spaceflower finally arrived at the Autobot base. Starscream was again concerned with Spaceflower, who didn't look all that great.

"Flying…wasn't so good for me, Starscream," she whispered worriedly.

He patted her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way. "Don't worry. You just relax in their main room while I try to find their leader."

"I'll watch their TV," Spaceflower said, looking uncomfortable.

Starscream nodded and slipped into the hallway, trying to look for Optimus Prime. Finally he located him in a peculiar room with no roof, and a tree right in the middle. Hanging from the tree was another member of the team, but Starscream couldn't place the name at the moment. Optimus was casually holding conversation with him until Starscream cleared his throat.

"Optimus Prime," Starscream said, trying not to sound as helpless and worried as he felt.

"_Starscream_?" Optimus asked. Now _he _sounded worried. "What…what are you doing here?"

This was not going to be fun, Starscream knew, but he had to do it, for Spaceflower's sake. After all, if he needed a tune-up, wouldn't he want somebody to help him, even if it _was _one of those filthy, oppressive Autobots?

"It's…it's my girlfriend," Starscream admitted. "She desperately needs a tune-up and we Decepticons don't have any medical care here on Earth. I was wondering if you could help us instead. You…you remember her? The femme who sang in the musical?"

Optimus and Prowl looked at each other, both of them shocked. Maybe it was the desperate look on Starscream's face, but finally Optimus sighed.

"I'll ask Ratchet," he said. "After all, Autobots are programmed to protect innocent life, and your girlfriend has never wronged us."

"She's never wronged anyone," Starscream added. "She's perfect. I really don't want her to go offline."

Starscream and Prowl waited in Prowl's room for what felt like stellar cycles. When Optimus, Ratchet and Spaceflower finally came back in, Starscream rushed to her.

"Is she going to be okay?" he asked, kissing her head.

"Your girlfriend was perfectly healthy," Ratchet said. "The thing is…she's carrying."

"She's _what_?" Prowl and Starscream yelled at the same time. Prowl even stuck his head out from the leaves of his tree, where he had been hiding.

"Please…tell me you're happy?" Spaceflower asked worriedly, looking up at Starscream.

"Of course I am, my love," Starscream assured her, kissing her again. "Why wouldn't I be? I told you, I like surprises. Especially, you know, little protoforms of our own."

"I knew you two didn't plan this," Ratchet muttered.

"Starscream, I don't think I can—I mean, I've never—" Spaceflower's voice was shaking but Starscream gently held her close.

"Don't _worry_," he told her. "I'll be here. I love you. I will never allow harm to come to you."

All the Autobots in the room stared at the couple in amazement. This wasn't anything like the Starscream _they_ were familiar with.

"We're…we're really…erm…happy for you guys," Optimus said awkwardly.

"Thanks," Spaceflower told him, still clinging to Starscream. She looked so scared.

"If you ever need anything, you know where to find us," Optimus continued.

"I-I thought you…hated Decepticons," Spaceflower whispered.

"Not if you aren't trying to steal the AllSpark and/or destroy us," Prowl told her, jumping down from his tree.

"We'd always help clueless, frightened new parents," Ratchet added.

"Hey guys!" Bumblebee yelled, running into Prowl's room, Sari following him. "Guess what? I beat Sari at our new video game…_again_!"

"No fair!" Sari yelled back, but then she turned to stare. "Decepticons? Forget it, Starscream! You'll never get my key!"

"We don't _want _your key, human!" Starscream shouted. "We just came here to, um…"

"Learn how to be ninja-bots?" Prowl quickly volunteered, jumping back up into the tree.

"Not buying it." Bumblebee crossed his arms.

"Oh come on!" Optimus insisted. "Starscream and his girlfriend love nature and, um, circuit-su! Right, guys?"

"Starscream has a _girlfriend_?" Sari and Bumblebee yelled.

"Who did you think she was?" Starscream demanded. "My personal servant?"

"Well…actually…" said Bumblebee, but Ratchet smacked him on the head.

"Listen up!" he shouted. "It's none of your business what these two are here for, so get out of here! _Now_!"

Sari and Bumblebee left, grumbling, and Starscream reached for Spaceflower's trembling servo. Ratchet looked towards the door.

"I don't think they would be able to handle the truth," he said quietly. "You agree?"

"Yes," Spaceflower told him. "But we do appreciate your help, because we need all the help we can get."

_Back at the Decepticon base_…

"Uh, guys?" Starscream called, as he and his girlfriend walked in. "We're home!"

"Took you long enough," Blackarachnia sassed. She was sitting on the couch and sipping some energon, legs crossed. "Is your pretty little girlfriend fixed now?"

"Well…first we want to get everybody else," Starscream told her nervously. "Because, you know, we kind of have something to say."

The two of them went to Megatron's door and knocked. He came out, looking irritated, and followed them as they brought everyone to the main room.

"We have big news," Spaceflower announced, squeezing Starscream's hand. "I was never sick."

"Megatron is just going to have…um…another…um…new recruit?" Starscream added.

"New recruit?" Lugnut repeated, sounding confused.

"You mean, she's carrying?" Megatron clarified, arms crossed.

"Um…as a matter of fact, yes," Starscream told him. "Good call."

"What are we going to do with your nasty little protoform around here, Spaceflower?" Blackarachnia walked up to Spaceflower and glared.

"Hey!" Spaceflower cried. "It's not nasty!"

"It will be, if it's the product of you two," Blackarachnia replied.

"You better back off now, unless you want to face the wrath of my null-rays!" Starscream yelled.

Blackarachnia just laughed. "You don't scare me, Processor-Seeker. You're about as threatening as a pile of spare parts."

"SILENCE!" Megatron thundered, picking up Starscream by his left wing. Starscream cried out in pain but Megatron ignored it. "Starscream, if this protoform of yours doesn't get in my way or the way of the Decepticon cause, I don't have a problem with it. However, it had better NOT get in my way, for from now on, it's YOUR responsibility."


	7. New Recruit

_Many Earth months later_…

"Hmm…what do you think our little Decepticon will want to eat?" Starscream questioned.

"Well, I'm guessing it isn't unstable, high-grade energon," Spaceflower replied, pointing to the contents of their refrigerator.

"LUGNUT!" Starscream yelled. "Where's the motor oil?"

"Well, I…" Lugnut approached the refrigerator, looking confused. "I give up."

"YOU were supposed to do the shopping this month, you moron!" Starscream hollered. "You KNOW Spaceflower isn't supposed to have energon…but that's the only thing we have!"

"Megatron said it's _your _responsibility," Lugnut said back. "You're not a very good father, Starscream."

Starscream looked about to explode. "Well at least I'm not a stalker!"

"You _are _a stalker, Lugnut," Spaceflower added matter-of-factly.

"I am not!" Lugnut protested.

"Well, what if I told you Megatron would dismiss you if he knew you forgot to get us our motor oil?" Starscream asked flatly.

"I WILL NOT FAIL YOU, MY LORD!" Lugnut hollered, and smashed right through the wall.

"Get low-grade!" Spaceflower called after him.

"Just when we finally fixed the walls," Starscream muttered. "Well, um, low-grade is a good idea, I guess."

"We have to be gentle with our sparkling," Spaceflower added. "I'm sure it's going to be so cute when it's finally here!"

"How long now?"

"Only maybe a few lunar cycles," Spaceflower replied. "And we're prepared a little more now. I was going to put a cradle in your room, I mean, if that's okay with you. Blackarachnia wouldn't let me put it in our room because she said the sparkling's screaming would keep her up all night."

"Couldn't you just sing it to sleep?" Starscream asked.

"Um…yes, I could," Spaceflower told him. "But she wouldn't listen to me. She's not evil or anything, but I can tell she doesn't like me. As soon as our sparkling comes, I'm going to ask Megatron if I can move in with you."

"That would be nice." Starscream gently reached out and took Spaceflower's claw in his own. She kissed him on the cheek in return. They _were_ more prepared to greet their new "bundle of joy" now, it was true, but they still weren't quite sure what parenthood was really going to be like.

They both were surprised to find that the Autobots were more than willing to help them. Everyone on Optimus's team was aware of the "big news" by now, and rather than ignore Starscream and Spaceflower, they seemed to want to make sure everything went smoothly. _Maybe that musical really DID help improve relations_, Starscream found himself thinking.

Either way, they still had a lot to do. They had to find a cradle for their new sparkling, and put it in Starscream's quarters. They had to make sure their refrigerator always had oil that was safe for it to consume. They had to think about how often they would give it tune-ups, so it could stay healthy. Transformation and flying were both instincts, but they would have to teach it how to walk and talk and fight (once it got a little older—basic training). There seemed to be an endless list of things they needed to do to make sure their new little Decepticon had the very best life cycle it could.

_Approximately three Earth months later_…

"She really is cute when she's asleep," Spaceflower whispered, gently bending down to kiss their sparkling goodnight. The little thing had been screaming her head off, as usual (taking after her father, Spaceflower joked once), but once her mother sang her to sleep, she slept peacefully in her cradle.

The sparkling didn't have an official name yet, so for now they had just decided to call her Sweetie. (This was mostly because, after Spaceflower sang her to sleep every night, she would whisper, "Good night, Sweetie.")

As sparklings go, Sweetie _was_ pretty adorable. She was only about as big as one of Starscream's claws, and she had tiny little wings sticking out of her back. She usually curled up into a little ball when she slept, and smiled a sweet little smile when she listened to her mother's song. Her loud screaming could probably break the sound barrier, but her cute little sparkling laugh warmed everyone's spark.

After Spaceflower and Starscream made sure Sweetie was fast asleep, the two of them crawled into bed. Spaceflower gently leaned into Starscream's chestplate and shut her optics.

"You know, my love, you never tuck _me _in at night or sing _me _to sleep," Starscream said, pretending to be hurt. "You know, sometimes I think you love Sweetie more than you love me."

"How could I, when you're so obnoxiously handsome?" Spaceflower purred, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Good point," Starscream whispered, grasping his beloved in his arms, and things might have been about to get steamy, but then they heard that familiar sound—SSSCCCREEEAAAMMM!

Spaceflower jumped quickly out of bed and grabbed Sweetie out of her cradle. Sweetie was screaming louder and louder. This was not an unusual occurrence—she typically woke up during the middle of the night and started screaming, since she hadn't started sleeping through the nights yet. As always, Spaceflower started her singing.

Starscream remained in bed, watching Spaceflower gently rocking their sparkling in the moonlight as she sang. She still looked so beautiful. And that voice, oh that voice…_I really AM lucky_, was Starscream's last thought as he drifted into stasis, too.

_That next morning_…

"Starscream and I were thinking we should take Sweetie for her first tune-up this afternoon," Spaceflower was saying, as she daintily sipped her motor oil. Everyone was sitting at the table except for Sweetie herself (she was taking her stasis nap). "What do you guys think?"

"Will it get her to stop that awful screaming?" Blackarachnia groaned, rubbing her optics and drinking some more energon. "My room is right next to yours and Starscream's and I can _never _get any recharge now. I don't know how you guys live with it."

"We can 'live with it' because we love her very much," Spaceflower replied. "And anyway, that's supposed to be normal. She just isn't sleeping through the nights yet."

"And a tune-up won't stop it," Starscream added. "It will just keep her healthy. We want to make sure she doesn't have any technical glitches or anything."

"Can we go?" Spaceflower asked.

Megatron nodded and finished yet another energon cube. He looked exhausted—probably because Sweetie's screaming was keeping even him up at night. (Starscream, though he would never admit it, was secretly amused to discover that it only took a little sparkling to fry Megatron's circuits like this).

So after Sweetie was finished with her stasis nap, Starscream and Spaceflower flew her to the Autobot base, where Ratchet had agreed to give her regular tune-ups. After her tune-up was finished and it was confirmed that she was in great shape, Starscream and Spaceflower brought her out to the main room to show her off to everyone.

"Hey, she's kinda cute." Bumblebee smiled and patted her on the head. Sweetie laughed and waved her arms.

"Kitchy-kitchy-koo-koo," Bulkhead said.

"Could I hold her?" Prowl asked. Since Prowl was pretty coordinated and unlikely to accidentally drop her on her head or anything, Spaceflower carefully handed the sparkling over. As Prowl was rocking Sweetie in his arms, they heard a knock on their door.

"I'll get it," said Optimus. He left the room to get the door as the rest of his team fussed over Starscream and Spaceflower's new sparkling. Everything was fine until Optimus walked back into the main room with some visitors Starscream and Spaceflower would rather not have encountered—Ultra Magnus, leader of the Elite Guard, Jazz the Cyber Ninja, and Sentinel Prime.

"Oh…um…hi there, guys," Bumblebee said uncomfortably, quickly handing Sweetie back to her mother (he had been holding Sweetie at the time).

Everyone was just standing there in the main room, surrounded by an incredibly awkward silence, until Ultra Magnus finally burst out angrily, "_What_ are those _Decepticons _doing here?"


	8. Capture

"Well, they're, erm…" Optimus was struggling for an explanation. Starscream knew that if they didn't think of something quick, he and Spaceflower would be dragged off to the stockade.

"They're _what_?" Sentinel demanded, grabbing Optimus by the shoulder.

"They're our prisoners," Ratchet spoke up.

"Decepticon scum!" Bumblebee added, a little artificially.

"Why didn't you just turn them in to the Elite Guard?" Ultra Magnus asked. "We could have dealt with them!"

"They broke into our base and attacked us," Optimus replied nervously, making it up as he went along. "We were so angry with them that we decided to deal with them on our own."

"You KNOW you're supposed to turn ANY Decepticons in to us!" Sentinel hollered. "I knew you were stupid, Optimus, but I didn't know you were _that_ stupid! I might as well send _you _to the stockade for disobeying your commanding officer!"

_They let THIS guy onto the Elite Guard_? Starscream found himself wondering, but he knew better than to say anything.

"Let's just get them aboard the ship, Sentinel Prime," Ultra Magnus said, giving Sentinel a "shut up" look. He held up two pairs of stasis cuffs.

"Don't!" Bulkhead shouted. He was looking at the sparkling, as was everyone else on Optimus's team. What was going to happen to her now?

"Please," Ultra Magnus said calmly, "let me do my job."

Before Starscream knew it, Ultra Magnus had snapped a pair of stasis cuffs onto his wrists and Spaceflower's, too. He then took Sweetie out of Spaceflower's arms and handed her to Jazz.

"No!" Spaceflower shrieked.

"Decepticon scum, you have the right to remain silent!" Sentinel snapped. He then started dragging Starscream by one of his wings, while Ultra Magnus walked alongside Spaceflower as he led her and everyone else out of the Autobots' base.

_Aboard the Elite Guard ship_…

Starscream and Spaceflower were trapped, alone, still in stasis lock, on the Elite Guard ship. They were sitting in a corner right next to each other, unable to move, and they couldn't see anyone from the Elite Guard _or _Optimus's team. Starscream was used to this kind of thing, but he knew Spaceflower had almost no experience with fighting Autobots (she was fairly new to the Decepticon cause).

"What's going to happen to us?" Spaceflower asked, voice shaking.

Starscream couldn't respond. He had no idea what would happen to them. They were completely helpless, trapped on this ship, at the mercy of the Elite Guard. Starscream heard Spaceflower's lines from the musical ("But I didn't do anything!") running through his head, but he never thought that scene would actually come true. And the other Decepticons thought they were just taking the sparkling for a tune-up; they had no idea what had happened. They wouldn't be able to break Starscream, Spaceflower and Sweetie out.

"And what about Sweetie?" Spaceflower continued. "I don't know where she is!"

"Don't worry," said Starscream. "I'll find us a way to escape."

They heard footsteps coming around the corner then and looked at each other hopefully. If it was someone from Optimus's team, they would be able to escape, but if it was a member of the Elite Guard, they were in trouble. The two of them watched anxiously, and soon found that it was none other than Sentinel Prime.

"Well, well, well." Sentinel stood over them and crossed his arms. "What am I going to do with you two?"

"Do what you will with us, Autobot scum!" Starscream yelled.

"Don't you _ever_ shut up?" Sentinel responded angrily, slapping a mouth cover on Starscream.

"Hey!" Spaceflower shrieked, but Sentinel pulled her up by one of her wings and brought her to the center of the room.

"What's your name?" Sentinel asked, still holding her by her wingflap, even though she was still in stasis lock. "I haven't seen you around here before."

"My name's Spaceflower," she whispered.

"Well, Spaceflower," Sentinel said, looking her up and down and letting go of her wing. "You're awfully attractive for a Decepticon. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Spaceflower shook her head, looking panicked.

"I'm telling you now," Sentinel replied. "So why don't we just head to my quarters and you can show me some of your, ahem, moves?"

"What?" Spaceflower cried. "N-No!"

"You're hardly in a position to make that choice, my dear…although you do look great in those stasis cuffs." Sentinel grabbed Spaceflower again, this time by the arm, and pulled her close. "I think I'd rather like to have you in my bed with me."

Starscream, still bound and gagged, was trying desperately to free himself as he watched this whole scene—but in stasis lock, he couldn't even move, and now he couldn't talk, either. He told Spaceflower he would never allow harm to come to her—that he would protect her always. He could tell she didn't want what Sentinel was "offering", but how in Primus was he supposed to help in _this_ status?

His optics widened in horror as he saw Sentinel pull Spaceflower into a harsh kiss on the lips, even though she was still trying to squirm away. As soon as Sentinel had finished the "kiss", Spaceflower looked like she was going to cry.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Sentinel asked, still gripping her arm.

"Leave me _alone_!" Spaceflower shrieked and, even though she was still in stasis lock, she managed to swing around and smack Sentinel in the face with one of her wings, knocking him onto the floor. Starscream knew that if she wasn't in stasis lock she could have caused a lot more damage, but being in stasis lock was almost like paralysis. She didn't even have her singing power.

"Assault an Elite Guard officer, will you, Decepticon?" Sentinel Prime said, gathering himself up. "Did you know that can get you one whole stellar cycle in the stockade—at _least_?"

"_You_ were the one who was assaulting _me_!" Spaceflower cried.

"Is that _so_?" Sentinel hollered. "Well, I can make your sentence two stellar cycles if you want—or a lot more than that! Decepticon load of _scrap metal_!"

With that he backhanded her right in the face, and she was the one who collapsed on the floor now. He kicked her in the leg and continued, "There is no place for you in society! _Any_ of you!"

Starscream was shaking with anger, staring at his girlfriend lying on the floor in stasis lock, even more helpless than he was. The femme he had sworn to protect and love his wholelife cycle long. And she was being treated this way. He had never felt such rage before. It filled every single wire in his body, every bit of circuitry. It was made even worse by the fact that he could do nothing about it. Nobody treated Spaceflower like that. NOBODY!

_SNAP_!

Starscream looked down. The stasis cuffs, in his lividness, had broken.

"I can't _go _to the stockade!" Spaceflower was insisting, unable to get up from the floor. "What about my family?"

"Well, I guess I _could _let it go…" said Sentinel, pretending to be thinking as he kneeled down next to Spaceflower. "As long as you give in to my former suggestion. What do you say?"

"Sentinel Prime, you are disgusting!" Spaceflower cried.

"An insult!" Sentinel snatched up Spaceflower by her wingflap again. By the way she winced in pain, Starscream knew he had damaged it. "You've got a lot of nerve to—"

Before Sentinel could continue, he was hit by a null-ray blast that smashed him right into the wall.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Starscream hollered, tearing off the mouth cover and firing more blasts at Sentinel Prime.

"Starscream!" Spaceflower gasped.

As fast as he could, Starscream ran over to Spaceflower and undid her stasis cuffs. Then they ran back to Sentinel, who was lying against the wall.

"And you say _we _are the evil ones!" Starscream yelled, inadvertently echoing Megatron's line from the musical. He fired another blast at Sentinel and pinned him down with his foot. He handed the stasis cuffs to Spaceflower, who quickly attached them to Sentinel's wrists.

"APOLOGIZE TO HER!" Starscream demanded, pointing his null-ray at Sentinel's neck. "And I _may _let you stay online!"

"I have nothing to apologize for!" Sentinel hollered back. "I'll never do it!"

"You're hardly in a position to make that choice, Sentinel Prime," Spaceflower replied scathingly, kicking him in the face. "If Ultra Magnus knew what you did to me I _know _he would get rid of you. Maybe we should tell him, Starscream…"

"NO!" Sentinel looked down at the stasis cuffs then up at Starscream and Spaceflower. "What…what do you guys want?"

"I SAID APOLOGIZE!" Starscream blasted Sentinel again.

"Call yourself a glitch-head," Spaceflower added. "And tell us what you did with our sparkling!"

"What sparkling?"

Spaceflower's servos turned into guns and she shot Sentinel, too. "You know which sparkling I'm talking about! _Mine_! She's on this ship and we aren't leaving without her!"

"DO IT!" Starscream and Spaceflower both screamed at the same time.

"All _right_, I'm sorry!" Sentinel cried. "I shouldn't have done that! I…I don't know what I was thinking!"

"Call yourself a filthy, malfunctioning excuse for an Autobot!" Starscream yelled.

"I am a filthy, malfunctioning excuse for an Autobot!" Sentinel replied, looking pained. "And…and I have no idea what happened to the sparkling! She's with Jazz, remember?"

"Then we have to go find her!" Spaceflower cried. "She could be in danger!"

"Right, let's go," Starscream agreed hastily, and Spaceflower grabbed his claw.

"You can't just leave me here, severely damaged and in stasis lock!" Sentinel yelled after them.

"Sure we can," Spaceflower replied.

"Come on, my love," Starscream told her. "Let's go find Sweetie…and the Autobots, too."


	9. Rescue

The corridors of the Elite Guard ship were deserted and silent as the increasingly worried couple rushed through them. They listened for their sparkling's telltale wailing but could not hear it.

"What if they hurt her?" Spaceflower asked.

"I don't know. Let's just hope they didn't."

"They…they wouldn't hurt an innocent little sparkling…would they?" she continued, as Starscream started running. "Aren't they supposed to protect life?"

"Supposedly…Not that I'm saying they could ever be trusted."

"Or…or what if they branded her with the Autobot symbol and they're going to take her away from us?" Spaceflower sounded close to tears now. "I can't let them do that! She's _our _little sparkling! I wouldn't get to raise her and watch her grow up into the wonderful Decepticon she could have been."

The truth was, Sweetie wasn't branded with anything yet. Megatron wasn't going to do it until she was old enough to walk, talk, fight and take the Decepticon Oath. Branding was, essentially, an elaborate ceremony that involved everyone watching as you recited the Decepticon Oath, endured being branded with the Decepticon symbol (inflicting great pain for a few megacycles), and demonstrated every special skill you had. Some thought of it even as a ceremony to show that you were no longer a sparkling.

Starscream halted and turned to face Spaceflower, who looked broken. "My love, you can't always worry that the worst thing is going to happen. We just have to keep going. She's got to be around here _somewhere_. And besides, Autobots aren't branded like Decepticons are. They're actually just stickers."

"You're right," Spaceflower said quietly, then, to Starscream's surprise, she grabbed his claw and started flying down the corridor—flying, of course, was much faster than walking or running. Starscream wrested out of her grasp and turned on the rocket boosters on his feet, following after her.

They looked in every room they saw, searching for their sparkling. Usually they never liked hearing her screaming, but now that high-pitched, sound barrier-breaking screech was all they wanted to hear.

And finally, flying down the corridors, they heard not her scream but her laugh, coming from a room with an open doorway a few doors down. They landed on the ground and, as quietly as they could, looked into the room.

"Whose sparkling _is_ this?" Ultra Magnus was asking, as he held Sweetie in his arms.

"We don't know," Bumblebee replied. "We found her on our doorstep one day and decided to adopt her as our own. She's really great to have around the base."

Optimus nodded. "We didn't want to take her away from her real parents, but she was so alone and helpless. _Someone _had to take care of her."

"Why was that Decepticon femme holding her then?" Ultra Magnus continued.

"She and Starscream were trying to capture her," Ratchet replied. "They wanted to make her into a Decepticon. We sure are glad you showed up when you did."

Starscream and Spaceflower looked at each other in shock. Was this all part of some elaborate scheme to get Sweetie off the ship safely?

"We can take her," Ultra Magnus was saying. "She can stay with us until we find her real parents."

"Don't take her!" Bulkhead cried, reaching for the sparkling.

"I know you've come to think of her as your own," Ultra Magnus replied, "but it's better this way. You know, you could be breaking her real parents' sparks."

_Irony_, Starscream thought.

Ultra Magnus walked over to a box sitting by the ship's window and pulled out a miniature Autobot sticker. He stuck it on Sweetie's chestplate and then sat down with her again.

"What do you call her?" he asked.

"We call her Sweetie," Optimus replied, looking upset. "That's her real name. It was in the basket with her. You know, when we found her all abandoned."

"Well, then she can keep her old name, for now," Ultra Magnus replied, pensively. "When she goes to Autobot School, they will most likely give her a new name."

Starscream realized Spaceflower was clinging tightly to him, her face turned away from the horrible scene of their sparkling being taken away and turned into an Autobot.

"I'll never get to hold her again," she whispered, barely able to say the words. "We'll never even see her again."

Starscream rubbed Spaceflower's back and stared into the room with hurt and anger. These Autobots _couldn_'_t _be trusted.

_I can_'_t let them take Sweetie_, Starscream was thinking. _I would never forgive myself_.

"I'll take her to Jazz now and let him fix up a makeshift nursery near the control room," Ultra Magnus said, standing up. "Don't worry. Sweetie is in good servos."

Optimus stood up to run after him, but Ratchet morosely pushed him back down.

"There's nothing we can do now," he said.

Starscream pulled Spaceflower away from the doorway and growled, "Let me in there. I'll get her back. And I'll show the Elite Guard a broken spark!"

"It won't help," Spaceflower told him sadly. "An attack will only make them want to keep her more."

"Well, we've got to do _something_!" Starscream yelled.

"And so we shall," Spaceflower replied, looking determined. "I have an idea."

…

Spaceflower picked up the box full of Autobot insignia stickers and took four out, slapping them on both sides of both of her wings. Starscream did the same thing, wincing as he did it. He had sworn to himself he would never wear an Autobot insignia again…but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Once the Autobot stickers were firmly on, they broke into the room where the Elite Guard kept their cans of spray paint.

"Is this permanent paint?" Starscream asked. "I don't really want a new paint job."

"It's permanent," Spaceflower replied. "But we can steal some spray paint in our real colors too, and change ourselves back once we return to base."

Spaceflower picked up a cherry-red spray can and sprayed the entire top half of Starscream's body with it, and his wings, too. Then she sprayed his bottom half with sky blue, then, to even it out, added a little more blue to the top. Starscream grabbed a light green paint can and sprayed Spaceflower from top to bottom, then sprayed her wings with a very lovely sunshine yellow. (It _was_ kind of fun giving each other new paint jobs, even if they weren't permanent.)

Once the "makeover" was finished, Spaceflower and Starscream looked in the mirror that was leaning against the wall.

"Yuck," Starscream said. "We really _do _look like a pair of stupid, irresponsible Autobot parents."

"That's exactly what we're going for," Spaceflower replied, smiling. "Now let's go rescue Sweetie."

…

Starscream and Spaceflower ran down the corridors (again) heading for the control room of the Elite Guard ship, where they knew Jazz and Sweetie would undoubtedly be.

They knew they were getting close when they heard her screaming and Jazz, shouting over her, "I fed her and rocked her, but this little femme ain't shutting up!"

"There has to be something we can do!" Ultra Magnus hollered back. "I've never heard a sparkling scream that loud!"

"I think she misses us," Spaceflower whispered.

Starscream nodded. "Let's put this plan into action."

Spaceflower walked up to the door and knocked. When nothing happened (probably because they couldn't hear her knocking), she knocked even harder, with both servos.

Finally, Ultra Magnus opened the door. "Can I help you?"

"I hope so," Spaceflower replied. "You see, we are a young Autobot couple, and we live in a small city on Cybertron, but we were taking a vacation to Earth."

"One day, we were visiting the park and watching some humans play music," Starscream added. "Before we knew it, some horrible organic creature stole the basket that had our sparkling in it, ran off with it, and we haven't seen her since. Her name is Sweetie."

"We wanted to know if you had seen her," Spaceflower explained. "We've been worried sick."

Ultra Magnus and Jazz looked at each other in shock.

"Is…is _this_ your sparkling?" Jazz asked, walking over to them with Sweetie in his arms.

"Sweetie!" Starscream and Spaceflower cried.

Spaceflower snatched Sweetie out of Jazz's arms and hugged her tight. "Oh, Sweetie, I'll never lose you again!"

"Thank you so very much!" Starscream added, shaking Jazz's servo, and Ultra Magnus's too.

Sweetie waved her arms happily and shrieked, "Mommy!"

"Did she just say 'Mommy'?" Starscream asked.

"Her first word!" Spaceflower cried, hugging Sweetie even closer. "I can't believe it!"

"We need to give Sweetie back to her rightful parents," Ultra Magnus said to Jazz. "It's the right thing to do."

"Thank you!" Spaceflower handed Sweetie to Starscream and hugged both Ultra Magnus and Jazz, then grabbed Sweetie back again. "We missed her so much!"

"I imagine you did," Ultra Magnus replied. "Optimus Prime and his crew won't miss her so much when they realize she's with her true family now."

"Who?" Starscream asked, playing innocent.

"They took care of Sweetie when she was missing," Ultra Magnus explained. "Maybe you would like to meet them?"

"Um…no thanks," Spaceflower said. "We just want to get our sparkling back on our ship and back to Cybertron before she gets lost again."

"But tell them she's safe now, and that we're taking her home," Starscream added, as he and Spaceflower backed away.

Jazz waved. "Have an awesome day!"

Starscream, Spaceflower and Sweetie ran away as fast as they could to the spray paint room and stole some cans of paint.

"I'm so glad we won't have to keep this hideous paint jobs," Starscream said, as he picked up some maroon-colored paint.

"If you've got everything, let's hurry back to base." Spaceflower handed a can of black paint and a can of dark pink paint to Starscream and started to leave the paint room. Starscream, now carrying Spaceflower's colors and his own, followed her.


	10. Homecoming

Once off the Elite Guard ship, Starscream and Spaceflower flew back to base as fast as they could. They were, at first, happy to be home, but soon realized they had chosen the wrong time. All of the other Decepticons were at the table, drinking their energon casually, but when they got a look at their "Autobot" visitors, they couldn't stop laughing.

Starscream (to his anger) saw that Megatron, who didn't laugh much at all, was almost choking on his energon. Blitzwing had fallen out of his chair with laughter. Blackarachnia was pointing and laughing and Lugnut, who noticed his glorious leader was supposedly choking on energon, began pounding him furiously on the back—until he got shoved off, that is.

"It's not _funny_!" Starscream shouted. "We did it to escape from the Elite Guard. They captured us!"

Once he finally calmed himself down, Megatron pointed to Sweetie. "Why is there an Autobot insignia on Sweetie's chestplate?"

"That's because the Elite Guard tried to take her away and turn her into an Autobot," Spaceflower explained. "But we got her back, by dressing up as her Autobot parents."

"Well, take it off," Megatron replied, and drank some more energon. "If she is a future member of my team, she is not to wear the Autobot insignia. And change yourselves back too."

Starscream and Spaceflower went back to their room, took the Autobot sticker off Sweetie's chestplate, and took the Autobot stickers off themselves, too. Then Spaceflower picked up Starscream's cans of spray paint.

"Are you ready to turn back into a Decepticon?" she asked.

"Yes," Starscream replied. "Just paint me the right colors, my love."

After Spaceflower had sprayed Starscream, he gathered up her spray paint and sprayed her. As they waited for the paint to dry they looked in Starscream's mirror at their old, Decepticon selves.

"I'm so happy we're back to normal," Starscream said.

"Yeah," Spaceflower agreed. "I was so worried. I was afraid Sweetie was going to become an Autobot."

"Me too," Starscream agreed. "So…now that we look better…want to go back to the main room and grab some oil?"

"Mm…sounds good to me." Spaceflower smiled, grabbed Starscream's claw, and they returned to the main room. As soon as they did, the other Decepticons started grilling them about their "adventure".

"So what _happened _to you guys?" Blackarachnia asked. "I thought you were just taking Sweaty for a tune-up."

"Her name's _Sweetie_," Spaceflower replied, "and we _were_ just taking her for a tune-up."

"It just so happened that Ultra Magnus and some other Autobots from the Elite Guard decided to show up and capture us," Starscream added.

"They stole Sweetie and put us in stasis lock, but we escaped and beat up Sentinel Prime, who was 'guarding the prisoners'," Spaceflower said. "Then we found Sweetie, but we had to dress up like Autobots to get her back. They would never give her back if they knew her real parents were Decepticons."

"We made up this story about how we were vacationing to Earth…and an organic creature stole her and ran away with her." Starscream shrugged. "I guess they thought we were idiot tourists who can't take care of their sparkling."

"Tourists?" asked Blackarachnia.

"Yes," Starscream said. "We acted like we were normal, stupid Cybertronian Autobots who were vacationing to Earth."

"And did I tell you?" Spaceflower suddenly looked excited. "Our little sparkling said her first word when we finally got her back—Mommy. Isn't that great?"

"When she's ready for the branding ceremony, she should be able to join my forces," Megatron replied, sipping some more energon.

"Our little Sweetie," Spaceflower said, and cradled the sparkling in her arms.

…

Late that night, Spaceflower sang Sweetie to sleep, as usual. Starscream always had to try not to fall asleep too, since she was singing the song that could make anyone fall asleep. As soon as the sparkling was sleeping in her cradle, Spaceflower climbed into bed with Starscream.

"I always feel safe when I'm with you," Spaceflower told him. "You really helped me today…with Sentinel, I mean."

"Of course," Starscream replied. "I love you."

"Am I the only one in this room who's feeling a little frisky tonight?" Spaceflower whispered, running one claw along Starscream's wings.

"Um…now that you mention it…no!" Starscream gasped as Spaceflower slipped her fingers in between his thighs. "You know I want you, my love."

"_Well_, I bet you three energon cubes that your systems overload before mine do," Spaceflower teased, stroking his interface panel. Starscream groaned, trying to hold it in. Spaceflower snapped open his interface hatch and started stroking his spike (which was now about 110% pressurized).

"Oh, come on…I can make you overload like nothing," Starscream hissed, trying to ignore the stimulation of Spaceflower's claws on his spike, but this was no easy task. "You know how good I am in bed."

To her surprise, he pulled the covers off, flipped her around, and spread her thighs. She shrieked as he stuck his head in between her thighs and started licking her port, stroking her wings at the same time.

"Please, please, stop!" she whispered.

"Do you _really_ want me to stop this?" he asked, looking up with quite the dastardly grin on his face. She shook her head and he continued, causing her shrieks to grow louder and louder. Finally she playfully shoved him off and stuck his spike in her mouth, causing him to yell out, "That was NOT fair!"

"All's fair in love and war…"

"No BITING!"

Finally she stopped and Starscream, now soaked in lubricant and quite worried he was going to lose the bet, got on top of her and penetrated. She sat up and kissed him passionately as they wrapped their legs around each other. Spaceflower reached her claw down and reached between his thighs again, right underneath where they were interfacing. If THIS succeeded, he was sure to lose the bet.

Spaceflower was still stroking Starscream's port as he stayed inside of her, both of them moaning with pleasure. Then, all of a sudden, the most wonderful feeling in the world occurred—Starscream found himself literally screaming for more as Spaceflower kept her fingers in that same spot. He grabbed her claw and moved it violently, pulling her closer. She was squealing too, they were kicking the covers off, tearing at each others' armor and claws, screaming and moaning, thrashing around, having the best interface of their life cycles and then—

"I don't care or want to know what you fools are doing in here, but can you PLEASE keep the noise down?" Megatron hollered, slamming their door open. "I'm tired of not being able to—this isn't a good time, is it?"

The lovely couple and the Decepticon leader just stared at each other for a cycle or two, immersed in awkwardness, not knowing what to say. What _do _you say at times like these?

"GAAAAHHH!" Starscream yelled as his systems overloaded and he soaked himself, Spaceflower, and the bed with sticky white transfluid. Overheated, soaking, humiliated, and unable to speak, he stuffed his face into the pillow and wished for the power to disappear.

"Just take a shower in the morning, Starscream," Megatron muttered, turning around to leave.

As his cooling fans finally kicked in, Starscream found himself able to speak. "That could NOT have gotten more humiliating. Overload? In front of MEGATRON?"

"Yes, and you practically clawed the sheets to shreds." Spaceflower grinned and pointed to the bedsheets, which had been clawed apart by Starscream. In the midst of interface and overload, he hadn't even realized it. He groaned and rolled over on his back.

"I'm sorry, my love," he told her.

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "Just remember, you overloaded—_seriously_—before I did, so you owe me three energon cubes."

"I…actually, I think you found my 'sweet spot', earlier," Starscream said, cradling Spaceflower in his arms. "Nobody's ever found that before. And that feeling was absolutely incredible. You are _wonderful_."

"Sweet spot…isn't that the part where if it's touched, your circuits get completely scrambled because it feels so fantastic?" Spaceflower asked. "I think I did find it, then. You were acting like you had a little more than a glitch in your processor, if you catch my meaning."

"Well, I just hope you enjoyed it, too."

"I did," Spaceflower reassured him. "In fact, I like playing around with your equipment, and I particularly enjoy hearing you helplessly moan and scream for more. I know where all your hot spots are."

"You're terrible," Starscream hissed. "You can torture worse than Megatron can." He paused, remembering their recent 'encounter'. "All I felt was pleasure, my love…until that bucket of bolts decided to crash our little party."

"Think of it this way," Spaceflower said airily. "While Megatron's overloading himself in his quarters, all alone, you've got me. He's probably just jealous."

"Megatron overloading himself?" Starscream winced. "That was NOT an image I needed in my processor, Spaceflower. Now I'm going to be scarred forever."

"You better close your interface hatch, my love," Spaceflower whispered back. "Before _I_ overload _you_ again."

Starscream realized that he couldn't close it, because he had repressurized…_already_? How embarrassing…but Spaceflower just slid his thighs open again, he whimpered, and she said quietly, "Well, maybe we _should _call it a night."

"And we should have pulled the covers up," he added.

"And been a little quieter."

"And locked the door."

"And put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on our door."

"But we should _never _stop interfacing." Starscream stroked Spaceflower's head and pulled her closer. She hugged him tight and closed her optics slowly.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," he whispered back.


	11. Training

_That next morning_...

Starscream decided to skip breakfast time. He said to Spaceflower that he wanted a very long, hot shower, but the truth was that he couldn't face Megatron just yet, not after that mortifying experience. Besides, everyone at the base probably knew about it now.

Steam poured out of the self-maintenance facilities as Starscream emerged, wrapping a towel around himself as he did so. It felt amazing to release lubricant and transfluid, but it also felt very good to wash it off yourself once you were done.

"You know, turn that shower any hotter and you could fry your circuits," Spaceflower teased, leaning back in bed.

"Got nothing else to do."

"We could go get some breakfast," she suggested. "I would have to get a shower first, though, since you sprayed your fluids all over me last night."

"I don't want any breakfast," Starscream replied shortly.

"You can't avoid Megatron forever," Spaceflower told him. "And there's no need, anyway. He's probably forgotten all about it by now."

"Oh, sure he has," Starscream said. "I bet he laughed to himself all night long."

"He will only remember it if you avoid him," Spaceflower insisted. "If you go back to the main room and get some energon with me, or oil, then he'll see it's no big deal."

"I bet he told Lugnut, Blitzwing and Blackarachnia."

Spaceflower sighed. "_I_ bet he knew that we were overloading each other long before he walked in on us—and he never cared enough to tell anyone then. He doesn't give a slag _what_ his Decepticons do with each other. You know that, my love."

"Okay, okay, I'll go," said Starscream. "I'll wait for you until your shower is done."

He sat on the bed, his processor torturing him—_I KNOW Megatron will make fun of me for overloading right in front of him_, he thought. Then nobody would ever be able to forget it. _Everyone _would be making fun of him…but Spaceflower was right. He couldn't stay hiding in his quarters like a scared little sparkling _forever_.

He still heard the shower water running and found himself picturing Spaceflower in the shower, which meant—oh, for Spark's sake, no!—he was pressurizing _again_! What was WRONG with him? Maybe he should check the ingredients of Megatron's energon a little more closely. It had probably poisoned him.

"Hey, you," Spaceflower said, coming out of the shower and kissing Starscream on the head.

Starscream hugged her and stood up. "Well, if you're ready to go, I say we get this nightmare over with."

"It's only a nightmare if you make it into one, my love." Spaceflower smiled and grabbed Starscream's claw, leading him all the way to the main room.

When they got there, everyone else was already there, including the fearsome Decepticon leader—who, as Spaceflower predicted, wasn't really acting any different than usual. Starscream avoided his optics as Spaceflower gestured to the refrigerator.

"Yes, I will get you your energon cubes," Starscream grumbled. He _had _to keep his end of this bargain, but the question was, why had he agreed to it in the first place? He got three energon cubes out of the refrigerator and set them down in front of his girlfriend.

"Thank you," Spaceflower replied, sipping her first energon cube.

"Where's Sweetie?" Megatron asked.

"Still back in Starscream's quarters," Spaceflower replied. "Why do you ask?"

"I was thinking we should start her training today," Megatron continued. "She can learn how to walk and talk soon. Transformation and flying are both instinctive, but she still needs practice."

"If you say so." Spaceflower sounded surprised. Sweetie was still very young. Was she old enough to become a fighter?

"Well, then go get her, for Spark's sake," Megatron snapped. "I don't have all solar cycle."

"She's still recharging," Spaceflower protested. "Sparklings need their recharge."

"DO IT!" Lugnut hollered, pushing Spaceflower off her chair. "OBEY YOUR MASTER!"

"GET YOUR FILTHY SERVOS OFF HER, YOU DOWNGRADE!" Starscream ran over and attempted to pull Lugnut off, as Spaceflower did the same.

"SILENCE, FOOLS!" Megatron thundered, picking up Starscream by one wing and Lugnut by one servo. "Must I break up a fight _every_ _solar_ _cycle_? Starscream, Spaceflower, go to your quarters and get the sparkling. Lugnut, if I have told you once I have told you a million times. Do NOT attack unless I order you to!"

"As…as you wish, Master." Lugnut hung his head in shame. Megatron sighed exasperatedly, letting Starscream and Lugnut go. Starscream grabbed Spaceflower and ran back to his quarters.

"_See_?" Spaceflower said, once they were back inside. "I _told _you. You were making a big deal out of nothing. Megatron forgot all about your overloading right in front of him."

"Probably because I'm not worthy of his attention," Starscream replied sarcastically.

"Well, either way, let's just get Sweetie and go back to the main room," Spaceflower told him. She gently picked up the still-sleeping Sweetie and brought her all the way to Megatron, with Starscream following.

"Can Sweetie walk yet?" Megatron asked.

"No," Spaceflower told him. "We can teach her, though."

She set Sweetie down on the floor and stood her up. Sweetie walked a few steps but then fell down again.

"Come on, come to Mommy," Spaceflower cooed, holding out her arms. Sweetie laughed and took a few more steps.

"Transform and rise up!" Megatron commanded.

Sweetie turned into the smallest jet they had ever seen and started to fly, but unfortunately she wasn't very good at it yet. She crashed into the table and knocked it over, scattering energon cubes and oil barrels everywhere.

"Are you okay?" Spaceflower shrieked, running over to pick up Sweetie, who had shifted back into robot mode.

"Mommy!" Sweetie reached out her arms and laughed again.

"Starscream, clean up this mess at once!" Megatron thundered. Starscream pulled the table upright and started putting the oil and energon back on top of it. Spaceflower set Sweetie down and ran over to help.

"Maybe we should teach her how to fly _outside_," Spaceflower suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Starscream said, setting an oil barrel back on the table. "Let's do it."

…

After the mess was cleaned up, Megatron, Starscream, Spaceflower and Sweetie went outside for Sweetie's first flying lesson.

"Transform and rise up," Megatron repeated.

Sweetie transformed and zipped all around the sky until she finally crashed into a tree. Starscream flew up and retrieved the sparkling as Megatron and Spaceflower watched. Spaceflower looked nervous and Megatron looked irritated.

Starscream lowered himself to the ground and walked Sweetie over to his girlfriend and leader.

"Why are you smiling?" Spaceflower asked.

"I think we should show her how it's done first," Starscream replied. He turned into a jet and flew around as fast as he could, performing every maneuver he knew how to do. (And he _didn_'_t _crash into any trees.) He soared across the sky, having fun showing off, and finally he landed on the ground again. Flying was one of Starscream's favorite things to do, and he almost never missed a chance to show off his skills.

"Good job, my love," Spaceflower purred, kissing him on the lips. He held her close and they started to make out, claws roaming everywhere, when a blast from Megatron's fusion cannon hit the tree behind them.

"Do you MIND?" Megatron hollered. "I'm trying to give a future Decepticon a flying lesson, and once again, all you fools can think about is your relationship!"

"You're just jealous," said Starscream, before he could stop himself.

"Oh, of _what_?" Megatron asked sarcastically.

"Jealous of our love," Spaceflower told him. "We love each other more than anything."

"However, that is irrelevant," Megatron replied, "to our present task."

"Did you see Daddy?" Spaceflower cooed, holding the sparkling in her arms. "Now it's your turn. Okay?"

Sweetie laughed again and transformed. This time she flew around a little more before she crashed into another tree. This time, though, she fell out of the tree and started wailing.

"Is she hurt?" Spaceflower asked anxiously, running over to her sparkling.

"I don't think so," Starscream said, picking her up off the ground. "But I think we should call it a solar cycle. What say you guys?"

Spaceflower nodded and reached for the sparkling. Megatron shook his head and went back inside.

"Don't worry, my love," Starscream said. "She will learn."

Spaceflower smiled, then, and the three of them went back inside.


	12. Fighting

_Approximately one Earth week later_…

"Good! That's good! Now…fly!" Spaceflower cried. Sweetie transformed and flew up, miraculously not crashing into anything this time.

"Let's see her walk again," Megatron said.

"Walk to Mommy and Daddy, honey." Spaceflower kneeled down on the ground next to Starscream, hoping Sweetie would walk to them. Her walking was still a little unsteady, but she managed to walk all the way to her parents without falling down.

"And who's this?" Starscream asked, holding up a picture of Megatron (one of Sweetie's many speech flashcards).

"Megatron," Sweetie replied.

"She has improved." Megatron walked over to where the three of them were sitting in the grass. "She will not be ready for the Branding Ceremony, however, until she can understand and recite the Decepticon Oath—and has developed weapons that will be useful to our cause."

"I think she's still a little young for that," Spaceflower said, standing up and putting the flashcards away. "We can't trust her with weapons yet, especially because she hasn't completely mastered the art of flying."

Starscream smiled. "I do think she enjoys it, though."

By this point in time Sweetie had learned to use the rocket boosters on her feet (similar to the ones both her parents had). She still wasn't perfect at flying, but she seemed to love it. Whenever they had a training session, she seemed the most excited when it was time to practice flying again.

Starscream also loved it, because it meant he got to show off, _and_ simply fly around in the sky without a care in the world. They would teach Sweetie new maneuvers with his instruction, and—ha!—this time Starscream was the one doing the commanding and showing off his skills and Megatron had to just stand down there and watch!

_Megatron thinks he_'_s so perfect and good at everything_, Starscream thought as he looped through the sky. _But he_'_s no different than anybody else_. _In fact_, _I bet he_'_s totally jealous of me right now_. _How pathetic_!

Finally, Starscream landed, grinning. Megatron was, as usual, expressionless, but Spaceflower was cheering. Sweetie laughed and shrieked, "Flying!"

"Who's better at flying?" Starscream asked, as Spaceflower rolled her optics. "Megatron…or Daddy?"

"Daddy!" Sweetie waved her arms and Starscream picked her up. To his surprise, she transformed and flew up, up into the sky, circled around a few times, then landed on her feet. Her parents cheered again.

"Could she fly fast enough to escape from an Autobot?" Megatron asked.

"Well…you know…she's only a sparkling," Starscream reminded him.

"Only a sparkling who could go offline if she was ever put into battle," Megatron replied.

"We're not _going_ to put her into battle," Spaceflower said. "Not yet, I mean."

Megatron sighed. "That reminds me. We also need to teach her fighting skills. Before she is ready for branding she must have her training completed."

"We can do that after she's done learning walking." Spaceflower shrugged. "And she also needs to learn more flying maneuvers. She's very fast, though."

"For all we know, we could have another Seeker in the making," Starscream added.

Sweetie turned on her tiny rocket thrusters and hovered near Megatron, who looked annoyed.

"DON'T become another Starscream," he told her. "One is more than enough."

"Megatron, that is hurtful and you know it," Spaceflower said.

"Oh, like I _really _care what that son-of-a-glitch thinks," Starscream snapped. "He can insult me for the rest of his life cycle, and it won't bother me."

"Why are you trying so hard to impress me then?" Megatron asked airily.

"I am doing this for ME, not for YOU, Megatron!" Starscream yelled, soaring up into the sky again.

_How dare he_! Starscream thought, doing a barrel roll. _Who the Spark does he think he is_? _Does he think the whole galaxy revolves around him_? _No_…_that_'_s silly_. _He thinks the entire UNIVERSE revolves around him_! _He thinks he_'_s the best at EVERYTHING_! _And he thinks he_'_s so cool with that stupid fusion cannon of his_. _Amazing as it may be_, _Megatron_, _you are not the ONLY one with really neat weapons_. _What about my null_-_rays_, _huh_? _I could slag a million billion Autobots in one battle_, _AND destroy those stupid humans_' _buildings_! _I could even destroy YOU_! _So why don_'_t you take your lame weapons and cruelty and viciousness and shove them up your hard drive_?

"Starscream!" Spaceflower called. "It's time to come down!"

"Huh? What?" Starscream turned back into robot mode and landed on the ground, feeling embarrassed.

"You're a wonderful flier, my love, but it's time to come in," Spaceflower explained. "I think you need some motor oil. Come on inside."

Spaceflower's words stroked Starscream's bruised ego. She thought he was a wonderful flier? Take _that_, Megatron!

"She said come _in_, fool," Megatron commanded.

"I'm not moving," said Starscream, crossing his arms.

"Why not?" asked Spaceflower, holding Sweetie, who was drifting off into stasis. Night was falling.

"Because I don't have to go inside unless I feel like it," Starscream replied.

"_YOU WILL DO AS I COMMAND_!" Megatron thundered.

"You will do as I command," Starscream repeated mockingly.

Megatron picked Starscream up by the neck and growled, "You are REALLY pushing it, Starscream."

"How's this for 'pushing it'?" Starscream pinched Megatron's servo with one of his sharp talons, and as soon as Megatron let go, Starscream shot at him. Megatron shot back and Starscream dodged, still shooting.

"Stop it!" Spaceflower screamed, cutting between the two of them. "Stop fighting!"

"SILENCE!" Megatron hollered, and blasted at Starscream again.

"My love, please come in," Spaceflower said. "Don't fight with Megatron. It's not worth it!"

"She's right," Starscream replied, turning away. "You _aren_'_t _worth my time, Megatron."

"What time is that?" Megatron asked. "Time you spend wishing you had my job? My strength? My weapons? My charisma? My intellect?"

Starscream, blind with rage, lunged at Megatron, but Spaceflower grabbed his wingflap.

"I said don't do it!" she cried. "Come on."

Spaceflower grabbed Starscream's claw and pulled him inside. Starscream, still fuming, went over to their refrigerator and took out some energon. When he was sure Megatron was out of earshot, he began his complaining.

"That slagging son-of-a-glitch!" he howled. "I could take him offline right now!"

"Please don't, my love," Spaceflower insisted, cradling their sparkling. "There's no need."

"Hello, you two," Blackarachnia said, walking into the kitchen. "What's all the noise?"

"Megatron and Starscream were fighting…again," Spaceflower told her, sounding exasperated.

"Mechs…will they _never_ learn?" Blackarachnia asked, walking over to the refrigerator and getting herself some energon.

"I guess not," Spaceflower replied, shrugging.

"There are some things they will just never understand." Blackarachnia sat down at the table and started sipping her energon.

"Oh, _yeah_?" Starscream asked. "Like what?"

"More than you know," Spaceflower replied, giggling, and then Blackarachnia started laughing too.

Starscream was glaring. Now the two of them were probably going to get into some annoying discussion about how stupid mechs were…_just_ because he and Megatron had gotten into another fight? And anyway, didn't Blackarachnia and Spaceflower hate each other? If you asked him, femmes were the difficult ones, since it was almost always impossible to figure out what was going on in their processors. Either you were enemies or you weren't! At least that was one thing Starscream and Megatron were able to agree on!

"You and Megatron both have scrap metal where your processors should be,'' Blackarachnia said to Starscream.

"Megatron, most certainly, but not me," Starscream told her. "Why can't you accept my ability to lead the Decepticons?"

"I can't _accept _your leadership skills until I see some _evidence_ of them," Blackarachnia replied snidely.

"You take that back!" Spaceflower shrieked, jumping up from her chair.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Blackarachnia yelled, standing up too.

"I've got a good mind to, you downgrade!"

"_What _did you just call me?"

"I called you a _downgrade_!"

"You're going to regret it!"

"Is that _SO_?"

_Oh_, _great_, Starscream thought. One of the worst situations was when femmes fought, because their fights never _ended_. And they were _much_ more vicious than that of mechs. First they involved talking, and then screaming, and then clawing at each other until they were both severely damaged, and even _then_ they would be trying to take each other offline, in very brutal ways. Particularly in this case, because Starscream was pretty sure anger had been building in both Spaceflower's and Blackarachnia's sparks from the solar cycle they met.

"Can we please STOP this?" Starscream asked. "You don't need to take each other offline over something so stupid."

"Ironically, I just split up a fight between you and Megatron over something equally stupid," Spaceflower said back.

"Well, that doesn't mean _you_ have to act stupid," Starscream replied.

"Don't callme stupid!" Spaceflower shrieked.

"I never called you stupid," Starscream told her. "I said you were _acting _stupid."

"Don't you know you're not allowed to call your girlfriend stupid?" Blackarachnia asked.

"No, _he_'_s _too stupid to know that," Spaceflower replied.

Starscream groaned, now realizing he was in Very Big Trouble. He didn't want to fight with Spaceflower, but it looked like that was what was happening. Basically, this had been an awful solar cycle. First he fought with Megatron again, and that was never fun, and now he was fighting with Blackarachnia and Spaceflower, who were, apparently, fighting with each other. _I need a stasis nap_, Starscream thought.

That's when they saw none other than Blitzwing making his way into the kitchen and over to the refrigerator, apparently looking to get some energon.

"Hey, Blitzwing," Starscream said. "How are you?"

"Fine," Blitzwing told him, grabbing some energon out of their refrigerator. "I heard there is fighting going on?"

"Maybe if everyone didn't act like such idiots, these things wouldn't happen." Blackarachnia sipped her energon, looking irritated.

"Well, Blackarachnia, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk and perhaps some dancing tomorrow," Blitzwing's Icy face said, sitting down. "If it would be to your liking, that is."

Blackarachnia appeared to be thinking, then answered, "Okay. That doesn't sound so bad."

Starscream and Spaceflower looked at each other in shock. _What_?

"You guys are going on a date?" Spaceflower asked amazedly.

"I didn't say it was a date," Blackarachnia snapped. "I just agreed to go."

"Well, he obviously just asked you out," Starscream told her.

Blitzwing patted Starscream's shoulder. "I go on this date to experiment, my friend."

"Experiment?" Starscream asked.

"Yes," Blitzwing replied. "If things do not work out, then they do not work out."

"And if they do work out…?" Spaceflower asked.

"Then maybe there'll be another date," Blackarachnia answered. "But I better enjoy every moment of our first date, Blitzwing…or else."

_Later that night_…

"Listen…my dear…I just wanted to say that…um…I'm sorry about today," Starscream said to Spaceflower, as she set their sparkling in her cradle.

"Don't worry about it."

"No, I can tell you're still upset," he insisted, feeling distraught. "You see, Megatron just makes me so _mad_...he thinks he's better than everyone and he loves getting on my nerves."

"Partly, I'm sure, because you _let _him get on your nerves," she replied. "He thinks you're jealous and cowardly and foolish and basically extremely unfit to lead the Decepticons…but that's just his dumb opinion. You have to stop trying to impress him."

"He is so wrong about everything!" Starscream yelled, sitting down on their bed. "I am _not _jealous of him! I'm not cowardly or foolish or any of those things. And I am _not _trying to impress him! I already said it. I don't care at _all _what he thinks."

Spaceflower sat down next to him and leaned into his chestplate. "For someone who doesn't care, you're certainly angry."

Starscream looked into those beautiful optics and sighed. "Okay, fine. I hate him from here to Cybertron, believe me, but…well…I _am _jealous. Really jealous, most of the time."

Spaceflower looked up and smiled, encouraging him.

"Sometimes I think that what he said is true," Starscream muttered, leaning back and falling onto one of the pillows. "That I _am _cowardly and foolish and worthless and a malfunctioning excuse for a Decepticon."

"You're _not _a cowardly, foolish, worthless, malfunctioning excuse for a Decepticon," Spaceflower whispered. "And I don't think Megatron treats you right, either."

Spaceflower started stroking Starscream's head as he continued talking. "Megatron _does _scare me, sometimes. Not always, just at certain times…like those times when he's grabbing me by my neck and threatening to offline me…making me feel like a load of scrap metal, just like he _always _does…but the weird thing is, no matter how badly he treats me, I still seem to need his approval. Don't ask me why."

Starscream sat up and leaned his head on Spaceflower's shoulder. "I've never told _anyone_ these things before, my love. I never told _anyone_ that I was afraid and that sometimes I do believe all those things Megatron says about me."

"Why not?" she asked, softly.

"I…I just didn't want anyone to know, I guess," Starscream replied, shrugging. "It all makes me feel like the most messed-up mech in the universe."

"You're not," Spaceflower reassured him, squeezing his claw, and he squeezed back.


	13. Date Night

_That next morning_…

Starscream, Spaceflower, and Megatron were down at the table in the kitchen, Starscream and Megatron both furiously slurping energon, but not saying anything. Spaceflower was sipping motor oil and watching them closely. Sweetie, as she had taken to doing lately, had turned her rocket boosters on and was hovering in midair. The tension was incredibly thick, and finally, the silence could last no longer.

"So…did you hear the big news?" Spaceflower suddenly burst out awkwardly. "Blitzwing and Blackarachnia are in love now!"

"Oh, they are not," Starscream protested, but Spaceflower gave him a Look.

"When did they decide this?" Megatron asked, sounding bored.

"Yesterday, Blitzwing asked Blackarachnia to go dancing with him, and she said yes!" Spaceflower replied.

"How can they have fallen in love if it was only yesterday?" Megatron continued.

"Okay, so I guess you couldn't truly say they were in love _yet_, but I know they will be…soon." Spaceflower shrugged and smiled. "I can just _tell_. You know what I mean?"

"_No_," Megatron and Starscream said at the same time.

"We _have _tostop doing that," Starscream muttered, taking another sip of his energon.

"Energon!" Sweetie shrieked happily. Before they knew it she had swooped down and stolen one of their discarded energon cubes.

"Give that back!" Spaceflower cried, jumping up from the table. "You _know _you're not supposed to be drinking energon!"

Sweetie flew around the room, laughing as Spaceflower chased after her. Everyone knew Sweetie (who was becoming quite good at flying) would most likely become a Seeker once she grew up, but every so often, she got a little rambunctious with her flying powers.

Starscream transformed and grabbed the energon cube out of Sweetie's servos. Sweetie started wailing, again, but Starscream turned back into robot mode, landed on the floor, and walked over to the table.

"Here's your energon, my love," he said to Spaceflower. "We've got to make sure Sweetie doesn't steal any more of it."

"It's unhealthy," Spaceflower agreed. She got up and picked up the sparkling, who was still wailing on the floor. "We _can_ get her some motor oil, though. She's probably thirsty."

Spaceflower sat Sweetie down in a chair next to Starscream and went to the refrigerator to get some motor oil. Starscream sat at the table, watching her. She even looked beautiful as she got motor oil for their sparkling. Starscream picked up his energon cube, sipped it happily, and said, "You know…life is good…isn't it, Megatron?"

Megatron rolled his optics and didn't respond. Starscream knew he was probably thinking, _How stupid_! or something similar, but he didn't care at this particular moment.

The door to the kitchen opened again and in walked Blitzwing, looking happy, too. He sat down at the table and yelled out, "Spaceflower, while you are there, will you get me some motor oil too?"

"Sure thing, my friend," Spaceflower replied, and came back to the table with two oil barrels and one straw. She stuck the straw in the first oil barrel and gave it to Sweetie, then handed the other oil barrel over to Blitzwing, who opened it and began drinking happily.

"So…are you and Blackarachnia still going on that big date tonight?" Starscream asked.

"Yes." Blitzwing nodded. "Dancing, remember?"

"Bet you're happy she said yes," Spaceflower said, smiling.

"I cannot wait to dance with her," Blitzwing replied, and drank some more motor oil.

"When are you going?" asked Megatron.

"8:00 P.M., because it is not too late, but not too early, either."

"Besides, you'll probably stay out all night!" Spaceflower added. "Oh, this is so exciting! I'm so happy for you guys!"

"If you come in late, don't wake me up," Megatron said. "Unless you want there to be—"

"Dire consequences," Starscream finished sarcastically. "Yes, we know."

"I mean it in all seriousness," Megatron told him, and drank some more energon.

_Later that night_ (_date time_)…

"So, Blitzwing, you have everything you need for Date Night?" asked Starscream. Starscream and Spaceflower were in Blitzwing's room, helping him get ready for the "Big Night".

"Yes," Blitzwing's Icy face replied, walking to the door. "This will be fun."

"The 'experiment'," said Spaceflower pensively. "Just remember, my friend. Femmes go on dates to have fun, so make sure she's entertained the whole time."

"Well, this _is _Blackarachnia we're talking about, my love," Starscream reminded her. "I think she can be kind of picky with her mechs."

"Relax," Blitzwing replied, and left the room, leaving Starscream and Spaceflower in his room…alone.

Starscream sat back on Blitzwing's bed and sighed relaxingly. "You do know that if we interfaced on Blitzwing's bed right now, he wouldn't have the faintest idea?"

"If he found out, he would be really angry," Spaceflower replied.

"How would he find out?" Starscream asked, trying not to laugh.

"I don't know, maybe if they had some big fight and came home early…or if Megatron or Lugnut overheard us and told him…or if _you _overloaded messily, _again_, and he put two and two together."

"Hey." Starscream pointed at Spaceflower strictly. "_Not _cool."

"Well, it doesn't exactly turn me off, my love," Spaceflower purred, climbing on the bed next to Starscream. "You're right. If we made sweet love to each other on Blitzy's bed…he would never know."

"Yes…I _am _right…_always_ right…" Starscream's spark was starting to beat faster. _Why _did she sound so beautiful when she spoke? Oh yes…her vocal weapon. It was just as effective this solar cycle as it was many solar cycles ago…when they had first met…He stroked Spaceflower's wings and she climbed on top of him.

The two of them had been together for a long time now, but they still interfaced a lot, and Starscream always worried that maybe, someday, he wouldn't be up to it and unable to overload…but in situations like these, he realized that those fears were quite unfounded. He knew he and Spaceflower could not be trusted alone in any room where there was a bed—or a couch, or even a floor…come to think of it, they could make something steamy happen practically anywhere.

"I love you," Spaceflower whispered.

"I love you too," Starscream whispered back.

"Who gives a slag if Blitzwing finds out we interfaced on his bed?" Spaceflower asked.

"Not me," Starscream replied, and continued stroking her wings.

"Maybe, soon enough, he and Blackarachnia will be doing the same thing," Spaceflower added, as she slowly slid her fingers down Starscream's body.

"They'd be such a funny couple," said Starscream, then stuck her fingers in his mouth.

"What are you _doing_?" she giggled, wrapping her legs around him. "Ahhh…"

He let her fingers go and drew her into a slow, passionate kiss, closing his optics as he did so. It was _much_ more romantic if your optics were shut…and when your optics were shut, you could let your servos roam wherever they wanted. He slipped his claw in between her thighs and tried to hold back his moaning (and pressurization) as she stuck one finger, then two, into his valve. Oh, yes, YES! That felt _good_, very good…

"Mm…somebody's wet today," she murmured, stroking one wingflap with her free servo.

"Silence, my love…" He was, at this point, too pleasured to be embarrassed. After all, lubricant was…just what _happened_, right? Particularly if you were on your subordinate's bed, interfacing with the femme you loved, with two of her fingers stuck into your most intimate regions. Then it happened a lot.

"And this is just foreplay," Spaceflower continued, softly. "This time I'm going to make you scream for mercy."

"Who will be the one screaming for mercy, now?" Starscream asked. "Come here, my love."


	14. Sweetie's Powers

_Hours later that night_…

"Wow, Starscream, this'll be your fourth overload tonight!" Spaceflower cried. "You are absolutely fantastic!"

"Yes, th-that's it! F-Fantastic!" Starscream was downright euphoric at this point, scarcely aware of where he was. He was focused on Spaceflower's fingers stroking the extremely sensitive wires surrounding his spike, which was still inside of her, as it had been for the past three megacycles or so. She was on top of him at this particular moment (they had "experimented" quite a bit with their positioning), and by this point their circuits were completely scrambled.

"M-My spark chamber's going to explode!" Spaceflower gasped, increasing the pace of her thrusting.

"Just…just take me with you, my love," Starscream grunted, and flipped her up without withdrawing. She shrieked and sighed pleasurably, wrapping her legs around him and hugging him close. He started thrusting even harder than she had, digging his claws into Blitzwing's bed. She dug _her_ claws into _him_, not enough to draw energon but enough to inflict pain—pleasurable pain…

Now Starscream _was _screaming for mercy, as had been predicted, and so was Spaceflower. He yanked one of her claws out of his shoulder and squeezed it tight. He was making no attempt whatsoever to hold back his moaning now, and it was getting louder and louder. Megatron was very unlikely to walk in on Starscream and Spaceflower this time, considering how wonderful that had ended up last time, but the two of them were just _so_ immersed in their interfacing, they weren't even thinking about it. They _couldn_'_t_…it felt too good.

Spaceflower inadvertently shoved her claw even deeper into Starscream's shoulder; raw energon spewed out and leaked onto the bed sheets and her faceplates as Starscream moaned again, squeezing her claw even tighter and pressing his lips onto hers. She gave a slightly higher-pitched squeal and kissed back, harder (glossa involved now) until Starscream let out his loudest screech yet as fantastic, glorious overload finally seized him.

"My…my l-love," Starscream gasped, closing his optics and collapsing down. Blitzwing's room was rather…blurry, and Starscream's spark was pounding furiously as he held his beloved close, waiting for his cooling fans to kick in. If truth be told, he was just hoping he wouldn't go offline. He had never experienced interface that intense since…well…_ever_.

He forced his optics open again and looked around. The sight was pretty shocking, and _not_ in a good way. Starscream's raw energon, aggressively clawed out by Spaceflower, was all over the bed sheets, not to mention his sticky, silvery-white transfluid from rounds one, two, three and now four. Both of them had released liberal amounts of lubricant, too, and that was always messy. The bed sheets themselves were, again, clawed to shreds.

Starscream withdrew and rolled over on his back, realizing, with great dread, that he had been very, very wrong when he claimed Blitzwing "wouldn't have the faintest idea" if interfacing went on in his room while he was out with Blackarachnia.

"There's no way we'll be able to clean up this mess in time…" Spaceflower hugged Starscream close and he kissed her head. She stroked his shoulders and he yelped in pain. Oh slag…now he was going to have wounds in his shoulders, just because of Spaceflower's clawing? Well, at least she hadn't gone for the wings…

"I think you should…stay away from that area for a little while," Starscream suggested weakly.

"Oh, Primus, did I—?" Spaceflower sprang up and stared at the energon on the bed sheets. She looked around then and rubbed Starscream's injury, biting her lip with remorse. "I'm sorry, my love. I didn't mean to…I mean…I—"

"Don't _worry_," Starscream reassured her. "It actually felt pretty nice. And besides, they're trivial enough that my self-repair will take care of it."

"I just…I feel so _bad_, though," she said, laying next to him again. He reached down and gently took her servo in his. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Starscream smiled and kissed her head. "I know. Trust me, my dear. I'll stay online."

Spaceflower smiled back, then, and began stroking Starscream's wings with her free claw. Amazingly (just _amazingly_!), he felt himself starting to re-pressurize…AGAIN? Well…she _was_ handling his wings, which were sensitive not only because they consisted of delicate circuitry designed specifically to help him fly well and fast, but also because he had been branded on both sides of both his wings, and his circuits had never completely healed from that.

"Is there a spike around here that needs some lovin'?" Spaceflower asked sweetly, letting go of Starscream's wings and caressing his port-and-valve region.

"That would be fine…if you want to offline me this time," Starscream choked, jumping at the sudden stimulation. "I might be great in bed, my love, but seriously, there's only so much I can handle."

"Sorry," she giggled. "I actually think I need a little recharge now, anyway. Overloading is wonderful, but it sure takes a lot out of you."

Starscream agreed…recharge would be nice, right now, especially because he had Spaceflower, the love of his life cycle, right alongside him…_ahhh_, _yes_, _that_'_s grand_…

The two of them forgot completely about the messy evidence of interface (and multiple overloads) on Blitzwing's bed as they both drifted peacefully into stasis, right in each others' arms.

_Later_…

"HEY! GET UP! _NOW_!"

That was the very first thing Starscream heard as he drifted out of peaceful stasis. He opened his optics to find Blitzwing (with his Hothead face on) standing right above him, and Blackarachnia too. He looked out the window and saw that it was around the crack of dawn; golden rays of light were stretched across the morning sky, letting him know that the sun was still rising and it was much too early to be up.

"What's the big idea?" Starscream asked, rubbing his head. He had a little bit of a processor ache. "What's going on?"

"_You_ know what is going on!" Hothead yelled. "_We_ know what you did last night!"

"As usual, I have no idea what you're talking about, Blitzwing," Starscream declared, but as he looked around, he wondered why he bothered. The bed was just as messy as it had been last night.

"Do not try that with me, Starscream!" Blitzwing poked Starscream in the chestplate angrily, Hothead still present. "If you are going to interface, could you at least do it in YOUR room? What _are_ you, a couple of sparklings? Can we not trust you at _all_?"

Spaceflower sat up then, looking a little tired. "Blitzwing? Blackarachnia? Where…where am I?"

"You're still in Blitzwing's room, where you and Starscream apparently had an exciting overload montage," Blackarachnia replied, crossing her arms.

"Well, you guys probably came in here to interface, too," Spaceflower snapped back.

"That's none of your business!" Blackarachnia yelled.

"Either way," Icy said matter-of-factly, "Starscream and Spaceflower are going to clean up this mess all by themselves."

"_What_?" Starscream hollered, sitting up.

"It's only fair, my love," Spaceflower said. "After all…it _is _Blitzwing's bed…and we _did _mess it up…"

"Okay, okay," Starscream muttered.

"I'll change the bed sheets," Spaceflower continued. "And you can start cleaning up the floor."

The _floor_? What was wrong with the—

"Oh slag!" yelled Starscream, realizing he was still missing his armor, and Spaceflower was missing hers, too. Their armor, at this present moment, was spread out all over the floor, shoved off in an overload-induced frenzy.

"It's okay," she reassured him. "You can take a shower after we do our cleaning, and then we can go grab some energon."

"My interface panel's still open, isn't it?" Starscream asked, laying back down in Blitzwing's bed.

"Yes," Spaceflower told him. "Yes it is…but don't worry. I find it rather…attractive."

She found it _attractive_? That was…_great_!

"Why thankyou, my love," Starscream replied, taking her into his arms and, yet again, they started to make out…until they were shot with spider-web and one of Blitzwing's guns, simultaneously.

"Hey!" Starscream hollered. "Watch it!"

"Close your interface panel, you disgusting Decepticon!" Blitzwing hollered.

"And put your armor back on, _both _of you," Blackarachnia added. "You're making me sick."

"You're just jealous," Spaceflower replied airily, "because we had a wonderful night filled with action and you got nothing…"

"What are you talking about?" Icy asked. "We went dancing…and that was fun."

"Dancing, big deal," Starscream said. "Bet you didn't have four overloads."

"_Four_ _overloads_?" Blitzwing asked, looking amazed. "How did you—"

"I don't want to hear about it!" Blackarachnia shouted, covering her audio receptors. "Just get the slagging cleaning done!"

Starscream nodded, Spaceflower scowled, and Blitzwing and Blackarachnia left the room.

"I hate her so much!" Spaceflower cried, as soon as the other couple was out of earshot.

"Just…just change the sheets, okay?" Starscream really didn't want to hear his girlfriend complaining about her enemy at this point, despite the fact that he and Megatron had just as intense an enemy-ship, perhaps even more so.

Spaceflower nodded then and changed the sheets as Starscream tidied up the floor slightly and put back on his armor. Spaceflower put her armor back on, too, the two of them took showers, and then they went back to their own room.

"It's still kind of early," Spaceflower said. "Want to go back to sleep?"

"Absolutely," Starscream agreed, and so they did.

_That next morning _(_when it wasn_'_t such an ungodly hour_)…

Spaceflower gently lifted Sweetie out of her cradle and she and Starscream headed for the kitchen, both of them very thirsty. Starscream grabbed some energon, while Spaceflower got herself and Sweetie some oil.

Megatron, Blitzwing, Blackarachnia and Lugnut were already at the table at this point, enjoying their energon and motor oil too. Starscream and Spaceflower both thought it would be best to ignore Blitzwing and Blackarachnia, considering the episode from the night before, so Spaceflower just smiled innocently and started feeding Sweetie her motor oil.

"Oil!" Sweetie shrieked, waving her arms back and forth.

Spaceflower laughed and cooed, in her "sparkling-friendly" voice, "You're such a cute wittle sparkwing, aren't you? Yes you are. _Yes you are_! Now do you want your motor oil?"

Starscream was, as usual, listening raptly (and looking kind of dazed), optics staring, claws folded beneath his chin. Spaceflower's beautiful voice, of course, naturally had the power to hypnotize anyone, but Starscream was still very much in love with her anyway.

Suddenly he felt a hard _smack_! to the back of his head that brought him both painfully and instantaneously back to reality.

"Starscream!" Megatron yelled. "I asked you a question!"

"Oh…um…what is on your processor, my liege?"

"Do you have any idea what happened to my old Great Wars battle trophy?" Megatron asked, sounding impatient. "I could have sworn I kept it on my shelf with my other battle trophies but this morning I found it missing."

_You just LOVE bragging about all your stupid trophies_, _don_'_t you_, _Megatron_? Starscream thought, resisting the urge to roll his optics. But hey! Starscream wasn't a wimp either! As a Seeker, he could fly _much _faster and _much _better than Megatron could, and he had pretty awesome null-rays for weapons. And he was _much _more handsome. Spaceflower had said that herself, _many _times. And let's not forget how much Megatron loved to brag about his "superior military mind". Starscream's "military mind" was great, too! Megatron was just full of—

"Answer the question!" Megatron hollered, smacking the back of Starscream's head again.

"Um…no, I don't know where it could be," Starscream lied. How dumb _was _Megatron? Obviously it was that idiot Lugnut. Lugnut was _always_ stealing Megatron's things and adding them to that shrine of his.

"Well, figure it out!" Megatron commanded. "I'm a very busy Decepticon and I haven't got all solar cycle!"

"Forget it!" Starscream yelled back, before he could stop himself. "If you want your slagging trophy so much, go find it yourself!"

"Silence, fool!" Megatron smacked Starscream for the third time that day, knocking him onto the table. Spaceflower had stopped feeding Sweetie her motor oil and was staring at them. Starscream lifted his head up angrily, preparing to retort, when they heard a _POP_!

"What the…?" Starscream looked around and found his sparkling now sitting right next to him.

Spaceflower looked shocked. "Sweetie? How did you get over there?"

"Mommy!" Sweetie laughed, and—_POP_!—she was right by Spaceflower again.

"Did she just…?" Starscream dropped his energon cube in amazement.

"I do believe she just _teleported_." Now, even Megatron looked shocked.

"Come to Daddy!" Starscream said to Sweetie.

"Daddy!" Sweetie shrieked happily, and—_POP_!—she was sitting right by Starscream again.

"Teleportation," Megatron continued pensively. "That is a _very _useful skill for a future Decepticon, Seeker or no."

"This is wonderful!" Spaceflower cried, and ran over to the sparkling. "I can't _believe_ she can teleport! What a wonderful power!"

"But…how did she learn to do it?" Starscream asked.

"It is relatively instinctive, just as transformation and flying are," Megatron replied. "However, she will still need to learn to harness this power."

"And we can help her." Spaceflower hugged Sweetie and kissed her head. "Oh, I'm so proud of her!"

"I am too," Starscream added, walking up to Spaceflower and putting his arm around her. "Now I know we have a talented Seeker in the making."


	15. Energon Pops

_One bright and sunny morning_, _several solar cycles later_…

Starscream opened up the door to the Decepticons' refrigerator. "Um…Blitzwing…do you care to explain what _these _are?"

He was holding up a wooden stick with a cube of what appeared to be frozen energon stuck onto it. They had recently accumulated in their refrigerator, and Starscream was afraid to try one.

Blitzwing's "Random" face cackled. "Why, they are 'Energon Pops', my friend! Frozen energon on a stick! Absolutely delicious!"

"That's crazy," said Starscream, but Blitzwing just laughed again and stole the Energon Pop from him.

_POP_!

Sweetie, at that moment, teleported into the kitchen (she was still practicing), Spaceflower closely following. Starscream's attention shifted from Blitzwing and his stupid Energon Pops to Spaceflower, yet again. He couldn't even hear Blitzwing's loud slurping noises (once he got the Energon Pop stuck into his mouth).

Spaceflower picked up Sweetie and sat down at the kitchen table. Sweetie reached for an Energon Pop but, since she was still too young to have energon, Spaceflower gently pushed her servos down.

"Starscream, my love?" Spaceflower asked. "Are you all right?"

"It is the same look he always has whenever he sees you, my friend…his processor is completely frozen," Icy replied, still sucking on his Energon Pop. Then he switched to Random again and added happily, "Frozen like the Energon Pops!"

"Hey!" Starscream yelled. "My processor is so _not _as frozen as one of your stupid Energon Pops."

"Okay, then it is _fried_!" Random screeched. "AHAHAHAHA!"

"You are insane, Blitzwing!" Starscream informed him angrily.

"Actually, only a third of him is insane," Spaceflower corrected matter-of-factly.

"That doesn't make it any more enjoyable," Starscream protested.

"Well…true…but…" Spaceflower was now watching Blitzwing (still in "Random" face mode), sucking on his Energon Pop. "Hey…could I try one of those, Blitzwing?"

"Of course," Blitzwing replied, switching to Icy, and getting an Energon Pop for Spaceflower.

Spaceflower sucked on the Energon Pop for a cycle or two and smiled. "This isn't half bad."

"I can't believe you're _actually_ enjoying one of those," Starscream retorted.

Somehow, though, he was becoming turned on by watching Spaceflower sucking on the Energon Pop. _Wow_…_if only she was sucking on something OTHER than that Energon Pop_…_that would be nice_…_and a lot more satisfying than frozen energon_.

"What are those?" they suddenly heard a voice behind them say.

"Oh!" Spaceflower pulled the Energon Pop out of her mouth and smiled again. "Good morning, Skywarp."

Skywarp was standing next to Spaceflower and staring at the Energon Pop, looking scared, as usual. (He and the other Seekers were staying at the Decepticon base for a little while, to help Sweetie with her own Seeker training.)

"What are you so scared of _this _time?" asked Starscream.

"Energon is _scary_!" Skywarp pointed one shaking finger at the Energon Pop in Spaceflower's claw. "And…and that one's _frozen_! It could…freeze my glossa!"

"Actually, they are quite delicious," Blitzwing told him. "You should try one."

Spaceflower, who had just met Skywarp, had not yet grasped the fact that he was afraid of pretty much _everything_, so she seemed a little surprised when he screamed and teleported right out of the room.

"That's a shame," she said. "I thought he could help Sweetie harness her teleportation skills…since, you know, he can teleport too. Obviously."

"Once Skywarp decides he's scared of something, it's pretty hard to convince him otherwise," Starscream explained, rubbing Spaceflower's shoulder.

"Well, he and the other Seekers only arrived last night, my love," Spaceflower reminded him, still sucking on her Energon Pop. _Primus_, _that_'_s enticing_…_I hope we don_'_t have to wait until bedtime to_—

Starscream's train of thought was broken by Megatron, Thundercracker and Sunstorm, all walking into the kitchen at the same time.

"What are you two sucking on?" Megatron asked, looking at Blitzwing and Spaceflower, who were both still enjoying their Energon Pops.

"Energon Pops," Spaceflower replied. "Frozen energon on a stick. Blitzwing invented them."

"Care to try one?" Blitzwing's Icy face asked.

"_No_, I would _not _care to try one," Megatron snapped back.

"Your loss!" Random screeched, finishing off his Energon Pop and running to the refrigerator for a fresh one.

"_I_ would care to try one!" Sunstorm piped up. "Actually, two! They look delicious!"

"As you wish." Blitzwing grabbed two of his Energon Pops out of the refrigerator and handed them to Sunstorm.

Sunstorm continued his trademark brownnosing as soon as he'd gotten a taste of one of the Energon Pops. "Wonderful, just wonderful! I _love _this! Thundercracker, you should try one!"

"Never!" Thundercracker scoffed. "Those silly little Energon Pops aren't good enough to match _my_ superior tastes."

"Energon!" Sweetie squealed happily, reaching out her arms.

"You have such an adorable little sparkling," Sunstorm continued, slurping away. "Sweetie will become a most gifted Seeker very soon. It is such an honor to help her learn."

"Erm…thank you?" Spaceflower replied uncertainly, finishing off her Energon Pop.

"I-I'll get you another one, my dear!" Starscream jumped up from the table and ran to the refrigerator. True, Spaceflower hadn't _asked_ for another Energon Pop, but to be completely honest, when she was trying out that last one, he had enjoyed it just as much as she had.

"Thanks!" Spaceflower smiled and took the Energon Pop from Starscream.

"They're better if you lick them a lot," Starscream added passionately. "Add a lot of glossa. Don't just suck on it, you know?"

"Um…okay, I guess." Spaceflower started licking her Energon Pop.

"You're sickening, Starscream," Thundercracker said.

"What?" asked Starscream, hoping Thundercracker hadn't guessed what he was fantasizing about.

"_You _know what," Thundercracker replied. "I don't see you giving Sunstorm and Blitzwing tips on how to enjoy _their_ Energon Pops."

"Oh, shut up, you son-of-a-glitch," Starscream snapped.

"Don't you dare insult me!" Thundercracker cried. "For I am infinitely superior!"

"Can you _please_ just stop fighting?" Spaceflower asked.

"I say let them take each other offline," Megatron grumbled.

"And just what do you mean by THAT, Megatron?" Starscream questioned indignantly, hands on his hips.

"You're a walking, talking, flying pain in the aft is what I mean."

"Oh, _I_'_m _a pain in the aft!" Starscream screeched. "Well, you're not exactly a joy to have around the base either, are you, Megatron? In fact, you _all_ are one huge pain in the aft…except my beloved Spaceflower and Sweetie, obviously."

Starscream nodded to Spaceflower, and she smiled.

"I beg to _differ_," Thundercracker said haughtily.

"That's it!" Starscream yelled, and shot Thundercracker with his null-rays.

"Starscream, you _know _you're not supposed to use those inside!" Spaceflower screamed. "Just _STOP IT_!"

"SILENCE!" Thundercracker hollered. He was shooting back, now, and there were null-ray blasts flying all over the kitchen. Sweetie was crying, and Spaceflower was holding the sparkling close to keep her safe from danger, and Starscream and Sunstorm and Thundercracker were all shooting at each other, and Megatron was blasting his cannon, and Blitzwing was just sucking on his Energon Pop and watching the impromptu battle from a safe distance.

"I SAID STOP IT!" Spaceflower suddenly handed Sweetie to Blitzwing, turned her servos into guns, and began shooting too.

"Spaceflower, leave this battle!" Starscream shouted. "You could get shot!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Spaceflower cried.

"Seriously!" Starscream insisted. "This isn't safe!"

"I don't care!" Spaceflower replied, and continued shooting. Starscream and Spaceflower weren't shooting at each other, but they _were_ shooting at everybody else (excluding Sweetie and Blitzwing, obviously).

"MOMMY!" Sweetie wailed.

"Stay with Uncle Blitzwing!" Spaceflower told her nervously. "Blitzwing, don't feed her any of your Energon Pops!"

The sparkling waved her servos and shrieked, "Energon Pops!"

"_NO_!" Starscream and Spaceflower yelled at the same time, but it was too late—Sweetie had grabbed the Energon Pop out of Blitzwing's servo and stuck it in her own mouth. This was not good; she was _much _too young for energon. Even one Energon Pop could possibly take her offline.

Spaceflower instantaneously stopped her shooting. She and Starscream flew over to where the sparkling was sitting, with Blitzwing's Energon Pop still in her mouth.

"Starscream, hold her still while I get it out of her mouth," Spaceflower ordered, so Starscream picked Sweetie up and held her while Spaceflower grabbed the stick. Unfortunately, Sweetie bit down, so when Spaceflower pulled, the stick came out, but the frozen energon didn't.

"Spit it out!" Starscream yelled.

Sweetie laughed again, but then she started coughing and—

"She's choking!" Spaceflower shrieked.

To everyone's horror, Sweetie _did_ appear to be choking on the frozen energon. All the guns had stopped shooting and everyone was staring, frozen, at the sparkling.

Starscream felt a hard blow to his shoulder that knocked him onto the floor and looked up to see Megatron, holding Sweetie around the middle and squeezing her almost like a stuffed pillow until—_WHACK_!—the Energon Pop flew out of her mouth, ricocheted across the room, and hit Thundercracker right in the head.

"You're gonna pay for that, Megatron!" Thundercracker yelled, rubbing his head, but everyone else ran up to Sweetie and Megatron. Spaceflower started crying uncontrollably and grabbed Sweetie out of Megatron's arms.

"How did you know to do that?" Starscream asked, shocked.

"I've been leader of the Decepticons for a very long time, Starscream," Megatron answered. "Don't you think I've had to save a choking victim before?"

"Thank y-you," Spaceflower sobbed, squeezing Sweetie almost as tight as Megatron had. "You s-saved h-her life."

Starscream got up from the floor and wrapped Spaceflower in his arms. "Yes…thank you."

To be sure, Starscream never thought he would be thanking Megatron for _anything_, and it certainly wasn't fun to do it now, but upon seeing Sweetie, who was perfectly healthy and online, and Spaceflower, who was still crying her optics out, he decided it was okay to thank him…just this once.


End file.
